Driver transporting bodies to funeral homes fired for posting videos on TikTok

Published: Aug. 4, 2022 at 12:12 PM EDT
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LAS VEGAS, Nev. (KVVU) - A man responsible for transporting the dead was fired after it was discovered he was making and posting videos while moving bodies from several funeral homes and crematories throughout the Las Vegas valley.

Kamal Daniel, 26, told KVVU he’s worked in the caregiving industry for the past five years as a certified nursing assistant. He said that he got “used to” seeing bodies while working at a hospice center.

“I don’t know why I’m like that but when I touch a body or pack up a body I’m super, like, blank. So I really don’t have nightmares, I can go home, sleep, wake up completely fine,” Daniel said.

Recently, he was hired as a removal technician for a third-party service, Las Vegas Mortuary Transport.

Once Daniel went on solo calls, he started creating videos and posting them to TikTok. Daniel posts videos of his work routine, which included blurred images of corpses and details about the bodies.

His TikTok account has gotten popular since his first post, with currently more than 30,000 followers.

Daniel said TikTok had taken his first video down, but he appealed it. Shortly after the appeal, Daniel said a TikTok moderator messaged him saying that his content was allowed on the platform.

Daniel said he’s even getting paid for his videos.

“My first live video I had almost 12,000 views, viewers, and I probably made $2,200,” Daniel said.

Once an employee at one of the funeral homes came across Daniel’s videos, management pushed for his termination.

“This behavior was immoral and reprehensible, and it does not reflect the core principles of Las Vegas Mortuary Transport or any of the Las Vegas Funeral Homes,” Jeff Marsell, co-owner of Las Vegas Mortuary Transport, said in a statement.

Marsell reported Daniel was with the company from June 20 to July 10. He said they do a background check and driver’s license checks.

“Moving forward our Employment Contract will have updated detailed information on this issue,” Marsell said. “Training will include specific details about pictures, videos and the internet.”

Daniel said he didn’t sign anything during his hiring process that barred him from creating and posting videos.

“When I first got hired with the company there was a policy form there, but it didn’t say anything about no phones, no social media, no posting,” Daniel said.

Some in the community are shocked by Daniel’s videos, with one anonymous embalmer calling his actions deplorable.

One funeral home that Daniel shot footage in says they are seeking what legal actions they can take.

“This behavior is never permitted in any of our facilities out of respect for the privacy of the families we serve,” they said in a statement.

The Nevada State Funeral Board reported in a statement that since neither Daniel nor the Las Vegas Mortuary Transport are licensed by the board, responsibility is on the funeral establishments for what happens at their locations.

“This individual may have opened the door for civil litigation against himself and these funeral establishments by giving such detail on the decedents, even though he doesn’t show any faces,” they said in the statement.

They said nothing in their statute addresses taking videos or photos at a funeral home or related businesses but those actions could fall under unethical practices if a complaint was filed with the board.

When asked if Daniel has plans to remove the videos he said he doesn’t mind either way.

“There’s probably an 80-90% chance I would process for the United States Navy, so most likely I would probably just erase the videos,” he said. “And then just use that page to become a runway model once I come out of the Navy.”

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