Video shows teens mocking drowning man
COCOA, Fla. (WCMH) – Cell phone video posted on social media shows a Florida man drowning in a retention pond while five teens stand by, recording.
Police say the teens were even mocking him and laughing at him, WESH reported.
“We’re not gonna help your (expletive). Shouldn’t have got in. Let him drown, what the heck,” said one of the teens.
Jamell Dunn, 31, of Cocoa, Florida went into a retention pond on July 9, according to police. His body was not discovered until several days later.
Shortly after discovering his body, the video of the teens mocking and cursing the man surfaced.
“They had phones, but didn’t even call for help,” said Police spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez. “Anyone who could just watch a man die like that is beyond heartless.”
Dunn went in the water after an argument with his fiancée, according to police.
“You gotta understand.” “You shoulda never got in there!” one of the teens said in the video.
“How could nothing in your heart tell you not to do anything when someone’s crying out for help and you’re telling them you’re not going to help them,” said Rondanielle Williams, Dunn’s fiancée.
The teens in the video have been identified and interviewed, but not charged will be filed.
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.