What happens in Florida ... shouldn’t happen anywhere
This column requires knowledge of Florida Statute 406.
“It is the duty of any person in the district where a death occurs” to report it to the district medical examiner ..... and any person who learns about a death and fails or refuses to report it is guilty of a first-degree misdemeanor. If convicted, a person could be punished with a $1000 fine.
So, here’s what happened. Warning, what you are about to read may cause concern about the future of our human race.
Cocoa Police Department officials reported that on July 9, Jamel Dunn, 31, drowned in a pond.
Dunn had called out for help but five teenagers offered no rescue, did not even call 9-1-1.
They did make a video which included them heckling Dunn as he drowned. Laughter and insults can be heard during the death watch.
“Yeah b---- you shoulda never got in there!”
“Let him drown, what the heck.”
Dunn’s body did not get discovered until July 14.
State Attorney Phil Archer released a statement saying, “we are deeply saddened and shocked at both the manner in which Mr. Dunn lost his life and the actions of the witnesses to this tragedy.”
“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.”
Archer could not find moral justification based on the sheer fact that none exists.
The Cocoa Police Department announced Friday on Facebook an intention to pursue the misdemeanor charge, as if extending this miserable incident will deliver a moral victory.
A wide spread belief in psychology concludes that those who intentionally abuse animals are five times more likely to commit crimes of violence against humans and four times more likely to commit property crimes.
Could not find a study that examined what amounts to violence complacency or what it means when teens watch a man drown and do nothing.
Maybe these boys have no conscience and can live with the faces they see in the mirror.
Most of us can thank God that our children would have acted humanely.
These boys need professional help or they will pen deplorable chapters in the book of life.