Teens Who Recorded, Mocked Drowning Man Won't Face Charges

COCOA, FL — A group of teens who recorded and mocked a disabled man as he drowned in a Florida pond won't be facing a misdemeanor charge for failure to report a death, according to the Florida state attorney for the 18th judicial circuit, representing Brevard and Seminole counties.

The video, which was released by the state attorney last summer, showed the group apparently laughing and talking casually about the fact that the man was going to die. The man in the video, 31-year-old Jamel Dunn, was found in the pond on July 14 and his body appeared to have been in the water for several days, police said at the time. According to the police report, Dunn walked with a limp due to an old gunshot wound.

While authorities said at the time that the group would not be facing charges for failure to render aid, a Cocoa police spokeswoman said that the department was moving forward with a misdemeanor charge that says a person has a duty to report a death. The final decision on whether charges would be filed was in the hands of the state attorney's office.

"The law violation of Failure to Notify the Medical Examiner of a Death was also carefully considered," the state attorney's office said in a statement last week. "However, we could not find any similar incident in which this law was used for this purpose and we do not believe it would be appropriately applied under the facts of this case. If the legislature wishes to criminalize the conduct in this case, then new legislation will be required to address those concerns."

The state attorney's office also said that in addition to the lack of an appropriate charging statute, there were evidentiary issues involving the time of Dunn's death and the admissibility of the video, which would have complicated the filing of a criminal charge.

Both Cocoa police and the state attorney's office previously acknowledged that there was no Florida law requiring a person to provide emergency assistance to a person in distress. A law to address a situation like this was proposed in the Florida legislature but did not receive enough support, according to the state attorney's office.

A GoFundMe page for Dunn said that he left behind two daughters, aged 6 and 11.

Photo via GoFundMe, Patch is a GoFundMe promotional partner