Five teenagers between the ages of 14 and 16 filmed and laughed at a disabled man while he drowned in a fenced-off pond on July 9 in Cocoa, Florida.
Jamel Dunn, 32, drowned in a retention pond as the group of teenagers filmed and laughed him without calling police or attempting to help him. According to Florida Today, it wasn’t until July 12 that the man’s body was found.
“[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.
According to police, the teenagers were questioned but likely won’t face any charges because they were not directly involved in the man’s death.
“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,” the Brevard-Seminole State Attorney’s Office said in a statement, Florida Today reported.
“He started to struggle and scream for help and they just laughed,” Martinez said. “They didn’t call the police. They just laughed the whole time. He was just screaming […] for someone to help him.”
“The kids were at the park that day smoking marijuana and apparently saw him walk into the water. He walked in on his own. They were watching him,” Martinez added.
Shortly after Dunn’s body was discovered, video of the incident was found by a friend of Dunn’s family on social media. The friend then forwarded the video to authorities in Brevard County.
The teens can be heard in the video laughing as the man cries for help.
“Get out the water, you gonna die,” one teen can be heard saying. “Ain’t nobody fixing to help you, you dumb [expletive],” another teen said.
As Dunn goes under the water, another teen can be heard saying, “Oh, he just died.”
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