Luke's Law: Mum of Cork drowning victim campaigns to ban recording of tragic accidents

Extra.ie​

28-05-2025

The family of a young man who drowned in the River Lee earlier in the month are campaigning for the recording of tragic accidents to be made illegal.
Luke Hyde, 34, died after he got into difficulty while swimming in the north channel of the River Lee at Pope's Quay.
A huge search and recovery operation was carried out, leading to the recovery of Luke's body. Luke Hyde, 34, died after he got into difficulty while swimming in the north channel of the River Lee at Pope's Quay. Pic: RIP.ie
Tragically, video footage of Luke's final moments was recorded and shared on social media, with Cork TD Ken O'Flynn calling on legislation to be introduced to prohibit the act.
Luke's devastated mum Elizabeth and his childhood friend KellyAnn are leading the campaign, with KellyAnn earlier in the week telling Katie Hannon on Upfront with Katie Hannon how emergency responders had to push people out of the way in order to do their job.
She said: 'A member of the fire brigade, he said he'd never seen anything like it in his 44 years serving. He said it was absolutely frightening that people had to be pushed out of the way for emergency responders to step in to do their job.' @rteone
"Not one person offered their help." Kelly Ann describes the day her childhood friend Luke died from drowning. She is campaigning for 'Luke's Law' to prohibit recording the scene of an accident. #RTEUpfront ♬ original sound – RTÉ One
KellyAnn explained that they are currently campaigning for legislation on Luke's Law.
'It's a law that's actually in Germany,' she explained, 'It's just basically you could face one year imprisonment or a massive fine if you're on the scene of an accident recording and using it to be sending through social media channels and not offering help or whatever.'
KellyAnn added that following her friend's death she took a walk down to Pope's Quay and noticed there was a life buoy 'within ten feet' of where he entered the water. @rteone
"I can't get away from the vision of it… My beautiful son drowning, while they just videoed him." Luke Hyde's death was filmed and posted online. His mother Elizabeth is calling for legislation to put a stop to this. #RTEUpfront ♬ original sound – RTÉ One
'There's four along each side of the quay and I just can't believe that one wasn't taken off and thrown in,' she said.
Elizabeth added that she doesn't think she can ever 'move on' from the loss of her child in such tragic circumstances.
'My child died without anyone trying to help,' she said tearfully, 'He could be here with me today if someone tried. It could've been a different story.'
The Cork woman told Katie of how she had been trying to get through to Luke to see what time he would be home and when the phone was eventually answered it was a Garda.
Living nearby and hearing the helicopters overhead, when the Garda answered Elizabeth realised the person the helicopter was looking for was her own son.