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Florida teens who recorded drowning man will not be charged in his death

B

badboy78660

Member
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/20/us/florida-teens-drowning-man/index.html

(CNN)A group of Florida teens who taunted a drowning man while filming his death from afar will not be criminally charged, according to police.

In the more than two-minute long video, the five teen boys -- who are between the ages of 14 and 16 -- can be heard laughing as the man struggles to stay afloat, police say, in a pond near his family's Cocoa, Florida, home.
Instead of calling for help, the teens recorded the incident on a cell phone, chuckling during the victim's final moments.
The teens can be heard warning the man that he was "going to die" and they were not going to help him. At one point, one of the teen boys can be heard laughing, saying "he dead."

Police: Family of victim 'frustrated' in lack of accountability


The state of Florida currently does not have a law where a citizen is obligated to render aid or call for help for anyone in distress.

"If there was (a law like that) we would charge them," Cocoa Police Department spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez told CNN by phone.

"The family is frustrated ... the detectives are frustrated, that we cannot hold anyone accountable for this," Martinez added. "No one deserves to go like that."

Teens showed no remorse over drowning death


Police say the incident happened on July 9, but even after the teens recorded the video and witnessed the man drown, they did nothing to alert authorities.

"At least one of the teens expressed no remorse while being interviewed by detectives," Martinez said, claiming the fact that they did not report the incident to authorities further speaks to their lack of remorse.

The family of the victim, identified as 31-year-old Jamel Dunn, initially filed a missing person's report on July 12, three days after he had already drowned.

His body was recovered from the water on July 14.

Victim's sister posted drowning video on Facebook


A woman who identified herself as Dunn's sister, Simone Scott, said she received the video of her brother's drowning on Saturday. She subsequently posted the video publicly on Facebook.

The state attorney's office urged the media "out of concern for the affected family and friends of Mr. Dunn that it not be published in whole or in part."

Given that Mr. Dunn's sister has encouraged the public to share the video, CNN has chosen to publish a small portion of the incident, as well as the audio of the teens' comments in full.

Police: Victim was struggling for 10 minutes before death


Police say that on the morning he drowned, Dunn had gotten into a "verbal altercation" with his mother and "possibly his fiancé," during which he told his fiancé to "leave the house," Martinez said.

"(His fiancé) left the home at about 12:40 p.m. Based on the video, he went into the water at about 12:50 p.m. and then drowned. He was in the water struggling for one or two minutes for the video portion," Martinez told CNN.

"We don't have anything criminal resulting from that incident," Martinez said. "Our detectives were trying to get potentially if a negligence law could apply. The state attorney advises it doesn't meet standard for a criminal charge."

"We are deeply saddened and shocked at both the manner in which Mr. Dunn lost his life and the actions of the witnesses to this tragedy," the state attorney's office said in a statement. "While the incident depicted on the recording does not give rise to sufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution under Florida statutes, we can find no moral justification for either the behavior of persons heard on the recording or the deliberate decision not to render aid to Mr. Dunn."

In a statement, Cocoa police chief Mike Cantaloupe said he hopes Dunn's death will lead to new laws that would "apply to this scenario."

"As law enforcement officers, we are sworn to uphold and enforce the laws," he said. "Unfortunately, there are no laws in Florida that apply to this scenario. Perhaps this case may be what's needed to pass new laws."

"As chief of police, there are times when I wish I could do more. But I'm a firm believer in that good will always win over evil," he added. "It may not come in our lifetime, but there will be justice."

The teens were interviewed by police, during which they admitted to being in the area "smoking weed," police said.

Their identities have not been released because they are juveniles who committed no crime, police say. But the nature of the incident has troubled even the most seasoned law enforcement officials.

"I've been doing this a long time, probably 20 years or more ... I was horrified. My jaw dropped," Martinez said.

"To think that anyone would just lack any kind of moral conscience to call for help," Martinez said. "It's one thing to see something and not want to put yourself at risk, but to not call anybody, to sit there and to laugh and humiliate this person is beyond my comprehension."

"I feel like something should be done to (the teens)," Dunn's sister said in a Facebook Live video she posted on Thursday. "I don't care if it's probation or something, it just needs to be an eye-opener. A lesson learned."

"If they can sit there and watch somebody die in front of their eyes, imagine what they're going to do when they get older. Where's the morals?" she asked.
Click to expand...
 
Charles Brandon

Charles Brandon

Member
The state of Florida currently does not have a law where a citizen is obligated to render aid or call for help for anyone in distress.
"If there was (a law like that) we would charge them," Cocoa Police Department spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez told CNN by phone.
"The family is frustrated ... the detectives are frustrated, that we cannot hold anyone accountable for this," Martinez added. "No one deserves to go like that."
Click to expand...

case closed.
 
K

Kinitari

Black Canada Mafia
Can they at least be mandated to see psychiatrists for the next decade? I feel like that would be a smart... Preventative investment
 
T

Twio

Member
Jesus Christ, I hope the family of the man who drowned take them to civil court at least. Make the lives of these ass holes hell.
 
WaterAstro

WaterAstro

Member
So, normally, people would be charged with negligence or something?

Maybe they're big fans of Batman Begins. "I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you." Real heroes.
 
LordOfChaos

LordOfChaos

Member
Helping someone panicking and drowning can end up in two people drowning, generally, if you're not stronger/larger than them and a very good swimmer. I'm would assume even in states where you're obliged to help, drowning will have exceptions in court because it's dangerous to help (by going in, obviously - throw something floaty at them, sure).

That said - what the fuck, that the boys were taunting a dying man, that's incredibly fucked and I wish they at least got something for that.
 
E

ElectricBlanketFire

Member
How can this be anyone's reaction regardless of age? You see someone in trouble and you just laugh at them while filming it?

Terrible. I would be sick with guilt over this.
 
3

3rdman

Member
Ugh...I read this earlier...made my blood boil. I hope their names are leaked and so that every time they try to get a job or a background check happens, this story pops up. They deserve to have this follow them forever.
 
S

sturgboski

Member
"Lets call for help with the phone!"
"Nah, lets make a snuff film"
Fuck these kids. They need to be put in mental institutions for a while as they are clearly a danger to society.
 
D

DrArchon

Member
Unfortunately, being a shitbag's not against the law.

That said, I wouldn't be against all of these kids getting some serious therapy.
 
L

Living the Dream

Member
ElectricBlanketFire said:
We can only do so much, but you'd certainly get a ban if you taunted or made fun of a person threatening suicide.
Click to expand...

A ban sure, but just being an asshole doesn't mean you can be sued.

I mean, this is a horrible situation all around, but I do agree with the findings; not that I agree with what these assholes did.

DrArchon said:
Unfortunately, being a shitbag's not against the law.

That said, I wouldn't be against all of these kids getting some serious therapy.
Click to expand...

They're going to need it especially when they're old. This will eat away at them.
 
R

RootCause

Member
Sickening. You have to be a horrible person to let someone die like that. Seriously, they at least could've called for help.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
You know, I'm not particularly a fan of Good Samaritan laws in general, but these kids certainly went above and beyond the call of duty to be complete pieces of human garbage. Making it a crime to not attempt to call emergency services when you have the ability seems like a possible alternative?

I wonder what kind of civil case you could make in these circumstances.
 
D

djplaeskool

Member
Ratrat said:
Filming and taunting a dying man though?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure civil liability still requires cause, sort of like criminal liability. Unless it's shown they have any involvement in the victim being in the water, I don't think there's aught that can be done without some kind of Good Samaritan statute.
 
T

Twio

Member
Living the Dream said:
You can't sue someone for not helping; otherwise we'd all be fucked.
Click to expand...

You absolutely can sue, doesn't mean that you'll win but you can sue anyone for anything.

In civil court the burden of proof is a whole lot less than criminal court with a lot of civil cases being won because of the judge simply picking the good guy over the bad guy so to speak when any halfway decent evidence is presented.
 
I

ItIsOkBro

Member
LordOfChaos said:
Helping someone panicking and drowning can end up in two people drowning, generally, if you're not stronger/larger than them and a very good swimmer. I'm would assume even in states where you're obliged to help, drowning will have exceptions in court because it's dangerous to help (by going in, obviously - throw something floaty at them, sure).

That said - what the fuck, that the boys were taunting a dying man, that's incredibly fucked and I wish they at least got something for that.
Click to expand...
help doesn't mean diving in

they didn't even call for help

these kids are sociopaths
 
S

SliceSabre

Banned
While there are a lot of reasons why I can understand someone being hesitate to render aid to another person, this isn't one of those situations and those kids are fucked in the head for taunting that man as he died.
 
L

LiK

Member
Some states do have laws for this shit. Too bad FL doesn't. The fact that they didn't even call for help is even worse than just recording it. The fact that they have no remorse shows how fucked up they are.
 
N

nocturnalis

Member
Just tell the colleges that they apply to and all future employers. Make their names known so that they can live with the consequences of being so repugnant.
 
K

kswiston

Member
The victim's family should approach it as the teens filming someone's death for their own amusement, rather than a failure to offer aid.
 
D

Dr. Black Jack

Member
finales-seinfeld_0.jpg


If only.
 
G

Goodstyle

Member
The Seinfeld finale sent the main characters to jail for doing this except with a guy being mugged, not drowning. It was called the "Good Samaritan Law", and it clearly does not exist, at least in Florida.
 
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