Bystanders were not obliged
Misdemeanor sought for Cocoa teens who saw man die
to save a drowning man in Brevard earlier this month, legal experts say, but authorities are pursuing misdemeanors.
It may be reprehensible and morally outrageous, but legal experts say that a group of Cocoa teens had no obligation to rescue a drowning disabled man whom they instead mocked, laughed at and recorded on a video that was later posted online.
Still, authorities are pursuing misdemeanor charges against them for failing to report a death.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in a 2012 legal argument, summarized that across the U.S. there’s no general duty to render aid to someone in distress. “You don’t have the duty to rescue someone if that person is in danger. The blind man is walking in front of a car and you do not have a duty to stop him absent some relation between you,” he said in arguments on the Affordable Care Act.
Kennedy added that there are “some severe moral criticisms of that rule, but that’s generally the rule.”
Still, as CNN reported, “Cocoa Police Chief Michael Cantaloupe said Friday he will recommend the state attorney prosecute the teens under a statute that requires a person with knowledge of a death to notify a medical examiner.”
The case in Brevard County involves the July 9 drowning of Jamel Dunn, 31, in a retention pond. Cocoa Police discovered later that five teenagers, ages 14 to 16, had made a video of the drowning, which was published Thursday. The teens can be heard laughing at Dunn, telling him he’s going to die and that they weren’t going to help him as he struggled and screamed.
Police identified and interviewed the five teens involved.
The office of State Attorney Phil Archer initially determined there was no immediate indication that a crime was committed because state law does not require people to give or call for help when someone is in distress. But later, after the story drew widespread attention, officials said they were pursuing misdemeanor charges of failure to report a death.
“While this in no way will