A group of teens recorded video of a drowning man, mocking him and refusing to help him before putting the video on social media.
Florida Today reports that Jamel Dunn, 32, drowned in a pond in Cocoa, Florida, as a group of unidentified 14-to-16-year-old boys recorded it on video, making no effort to help the disabled man despite his desperate screams.
The teens reportedly posted the video on social media, and it eventually made its way to police, who had been investigating Dunn’s death after finding his decomposing body on July 12.
“(The teens) were telling him they weren’t going in after him and that ‘you shouldn’t have gone in there,’” Yvonne Martinez, spokeswoman for the Cocoa Police Department, told Florida Today.
“He started to struggle and scream for help and they just laughed. They didn’t call the police. They just laughed the whole time. He was just screaming… for someone to help him.”
The teens did not call 911, and kept their distance from the drowning man as they recorded his desperate struggle to survive.
“Get out the water, you gonna die” one teen shouted.
Another said, “ain’t nobody fixing to help you, you dumb (expletive).”
Dunn’s brother told the news outlet the drowning victim had trouble walking and used a cane. He reportedly walked to the pond after an argument with his fiancee. She later reported him missing when he didn’t return home.
Authorities questioned the teens involved in the incident, but are not expected to press charges, as no criminal act occurred.
“While the incident depicted on the recording does not give rise to sufficient evidence to support 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,” the State Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
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