CELEBRITIES TURNING HEAT UP ON PAPARAZZI.

Byline: Janet Weeks Daily News Staff Writer

As investigators revealed more details Monday about the death of Princess Diana in a Paris car crash, celebrities continued pressing for action to curb paparazzi who stalk them.

Actor Sean Penn said Monday that even if Diana's driver were drunk and speeding when the fatal crash occurred, something has to be done to protect celebrities from photographers like those following the princess before the crash.

``When people feel trapped it's a human response to try to get out of that trap, whether they (the pursuers) have a gun or a camera. I would say that somebody's going to get shot one of these days,'' Penn said. ``It's really getting crazy. I've seen car accidents over this stuff before.''

``Whether or not he (the driver of Diana's car) was drunk, that crash would have happened anyway. Your natural response is to get away. There should be some kind of limit.''

Penn said he wants to work with California state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles, who said he will introduce legislation to curb paparazzi harassment.

``The First Amendment doesn't apply to stalking. At what point do we get to go to the bathroom?'' Penn said.

Penn served time in jail in 1987 after he was convicted of reckless driving and violating probation when he punched a movie extra who took a picture of him at a Venice Beach movie set.

A spokesman for Hayden said Sunday that the senator was looking at several areas for possible legislation, including clarification of existing laws dealing with stalking and trespassing.

``There's a whole new set of paparazzi motivated by big bucks,'' Hayden said Sunday. ``They treat it like a physical sport.''

Hayden said new legislation in California could be based on laws that limit the activities of protesters around abortion clinics or on laws governing sexual harassment.

It will be difficult to target laws specifically against paparazzi, said Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional-law professor at the University of Southern California and an elected member of the Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission.

``It will never be possible to draw a clear line between an aggressive investigative reporter and a tabloid reporter,'' Chemerinsky said.

``You can't have a law directed at paparazzi, because we're never going to define who are paparazzi,'' he said.

On the other hand, he said the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides no protection for paparazzi or reporters to break the law or endanger anyone when gathering information.

``Paparazzi have to follow all laws. If they trespass, if they invade someone's privacy, if they commit an assault - they're liable under existing law,'' he said Monday.

Entertainer Michael Jackson, who has been relentlessly pursued by paparazzi, was among the celebrities who expressed outrage Sunday and predicted more tragedies if excesses continue.

``As one who has been under scrutiny the majority of my life, I speak with authority when I say that the paparazzi, supported by the tabloids' animalistic behavior, has become acceptable in modern society,'' Jackson said. ``The world's acceptance of this practice, if continued, will accelerate tragedies of this magnitude.''

Stan Rosenfield, press agent for actors Will Smith, George Clooney and Robert DeNiro, said he foresaw something violent coming from paparazzi stalking.

``I said a month ago, `Nothing is going to happen until somebody gets killed, and it's only a matter of time until someone does,'' Rosenfield said.

Some or all of the photographers who were following Diana could face charges under France's ``Good Samaritan'' law, which makes it a crime to fail to help someone in danger.