COCOA, Fla. (AP/WSVN) — Florida prosecutors say they aren’t charging a group of teens who taunted a drowning disabled man and recorded his death.
State Attorney Phil Archer released a statement Friday announcing his office’s decision not to criminally charge four juveniles and one adult for failing to help 31-year-old Jamel Dunn at a Cocoa retention pond last July.
The five teens were heard laughing at Dunn as he frantically splashed around in the water, screaming for help. “Get out of the water, you gonna die,” shouted one of the teenagers.
Another yelled, “Ain’t nobody fixing to help you, you dumb [expletive].”
Archer pointed out that no Florida law requires a person to provide emergency assistance under the facts of this case. Such a law was proposed during this year’s state legislative session but failed to pass.
Dunn’s death received international attention last year after a viral video showed the teens laughing at him as he drowned.
Cocoa Police Chief Mike Cantaloupe initially said no laws were broken but said several days later a misdemeanor charge of failing to report a death might apply.
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