• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Florida teens who recorded drowning man will not be charged in his death

nekkid

nekkid

It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan.
Roufianos said:
You're not obliged to act here in the UK either unless you have some kind of relationship / duty to the person.
Click to expand...

Actually I'm sure this is not the case. I'm almost certain (without a bit of research) that you can be held to account for allowing something to happen through inaction, here in the UK.
 
W

Wiped89

Member
krang said:
Actually I'm sure this is not the case. I'm almost certain (without a bit of research) that you can be held to account for allowing something to happen through inaction, here in the UK.
Click to expand...

Yeah, manslaughter charges definitely. Whether they would be convicted, I dont know. But they would likely be charged with manslaughter.
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Link.

Five teenagers who taunted a drowning man while recording his death from afar may face criminal charges, a Florida police chief said Friday.

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 state attorney will decide whether to file the charges, which would be a misdemeanor under that statute.
Click to expand...
 
S

SolarMystic

Member
Bounceounce said:
This is complete nonsense.

Imagine lecturing people as to empathy and psychopathy, and then having your lecture degrade into torturous fantasies and callous/innacurate remarks on the humanity of those kids.
Click to expand...

Yes, because lets actually throw them into shark infested waters. Sarcasm much? Sorry, guess I'm not allowed to be angry and make over the top remarks.

ViviOggi said:
Look at regular shrink over here
Click to expand...

Problem? Don't recall ever saying I was a therapist.
 
P

psychowave

Member
Why the hell were people trying to justify this with "oh well maybe he was trying to kill himself"? So fucking what? You think you shouldn't help someone who's trying to kill themselves? Fucking disgusting.
 
F

fireflame

Member
rocketskates said:
This thread is so fucking weird.
Click to expand...

laws and specifically those about crimes cannot be retroactive because it would create a lot of problems and a precedent.


Now i wonder, they cannot be sued by state, but why isnt there a federal law that could bee used for that kind of situations? A national law that applies in all states?
 
B

boredofcanada

Member
What bothers me the most about this is that after the fact, they went home and didn't say anything for 5 days. I mean, that's on another level.
 
S

sarcastor

Member
F34R said:
According to this local station, they have been charged:
http://www.fox5ny.com/news/269575704-story
Click to expand...

i know they're teenagers and all, but i hope their names get published somewhere cause these kids are definitely sociopaths in the makings (according to many many years of watching L&W: SVU)

i mean kids don't give a fuck nowadays but to taunt and mock a man who's dying, and then record it and then put it on youtube and then even bothering to report it is some evil, twisted, misguided shit.
 
G

GoldenEye 007

Member
fireflame said:
laws and specifically those about crimes cannot be retroactive because it would create a lot of problems and a precedent.


Now i wonder, they cannot be sued by state, but why isnt there a federal law that could bee used for that kind of situations? A national law that applies in all states?
Click to expand...

No. Federal laws generally deal with things that cross state lines or involve federal officials, or any official working at any level of government. Or if a law violates a federal law or document like the Constitution. My explanation does not go far at all - in fact it is very shallow. But I'm not a lawyer and I don't know the intricacies of US law. But at the very least, this wouldn't be something a federal court would have a place in.

Each state would handle their own set of laws for the most part.
 
S

Sean C

Member
Fuchsdh said:
I wonder what kind of civil case you could make in these circumstances.
Click to expand...
None whatsoever. Nobody has any legal obligation to help anyone else, except in very narrowly defined circumstances (with regard to strangers, generally only when they've made an undertaking to offer aid).
 
F

Farooq

Banned
They could have called emergency services if they couldn't swim and Dunn would have had an opportunity to be resuscitated if necessary. They didn't even bother calling 911.
 
G

GoldenEye 007

Member
Farooq said:
They could have called emergency services if they couldn't swim and Dunn would have had an opportunity to be resuscitated if necessary. They didn't even bother calling 911.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I likely wouldn't jump in either - for a number of reasons. But I'd at least call 911 or otherwise try to get help.
 
D

Dart

Member
Damn that's fucked up, like a step above the stories we hear from China. Mocking and laughing while the man struggles to stay alive? Makes me sick to my stomach.
 
M

MisterShine

Member
Good Samaritan laws have clauses in them as well that they do not apply if the rescuer would place themselves in danger by saving the person.

If these teens can show they can't swim or haven't been trained how to help people in the water, they would get off such charges anyway. It doesn't excuse their attitude, but they very easily could have died as well in trying to assist the man.
 
K

Keasar

Member
What the fuck, this is the first time I've ever heard of this story.

Remind me to never ever fucking visit Florida (for many more reasons than just this one), apparently people there can just point and laugh at you while you're dying and not do anything to help with no consequence.

I'm not saying they should have jumped in and started swimming but NONE OF THEM CALLED 911 and started filming instead, pointing and laughing at a man drowning!? Fuck!
 
H

Hyun Sai

Member
MisterShine said:
Good Samaritan laws have clauses in them as well that they do not apply if the rescuer would place themselves in danger by saving the person.

If these teens can show they can't swim or haven't been trained how to help people in the water, they would get off such charges anyway. It doesn't excuse their attitude, but they very easily could have died as well in trying to assist the man.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but if they never tried to contact anyone for help, they face charges under those laws.
 
B

Bulzeeb

Member
UnemployedVillain said:
How the fuck do people turn out like this? What series of failings lead to disgusting humans like this?
Click to expand...

well while I do consider filming and not calling for help to be a dick move, in my country, if you try to help someone and he dies, you are now responsible for it wheter you did something to kill him or not, so yeah, the laws here basically tell you to stay away from anyone who needs help
 
R

rjinaz

Member
Bulzeeb said:
well while I do consider filming and not calling for help to be a dick move, in my country, if you try to help someone and he dies, you are now responsible for it wheter you did something to kill him or not, so yeah, the laws here basically tell you to stay away from anyone who needs help
Click to expand...

That's an understatement I'd say. They were not just jerks when they didn't even try getting help or calling 911. I'm assuming the camera that recorded this was also a phone.
 
N

norm9

Member
I thought about this alot and I'd be okay with 1000 hours of community service and an impeccable record of attendance at school.
 
B

Bakercat

Member
I understand that this a sad and angry situation where someone could have easily have helped the man or called emergency responders and yes he the bystander should have helped, but I don't think making something like this a law would help the situation at all, unless it is worded carefully. The reason I mentioned this is because in psychology, there is a phenomenon called the bystander effect.

Here is a link for an explanation of the phenomenon.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect

The problem is that if there was a law in place to arrest people for not helping a person in a life threatening situation, many people would be arrested during one incident. They would need to carefully word everything to keep this thing from happening to people that can't really help how social interaction works.

Now, I know this wouldn't effect this case at all, but in future cases where multiple people watch an incident happen, it would be hard to arrest multiple people knowing this phenomenon happens every day.
 
S

Sean C

Member
low-G said:
Change that law too
Click to expand...
No retroactive criminality is a constitutional principle.

MisterShine said:
Good Samaritan laws have clauses in them as well that they do not apply if the rescuer would place themselves in danger by saving the person.

If these teens can show they can't swim or haven't been trained how to help people in the water, they would get off such charges anyway. It doesn't excuse their attitude, but they very easily could have died as well in trying to assist the man.
Click to expand...
Good Samaritan laws are about providing legal cover to people who make a good faith effort to help others. They don't compel people to help others.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

“It’s what the hero Himmel would’ve done” - Frieren fan stops train knife attacker in Taiwan
33
3K
Zathalus replied
  • Locked
[TNYT] Brazil Blocks X After Musk Ignores Court Orders
Social News Community 2
69
4K
ManaByte replied
[UK] Nicola Bulley, missing woman in strange circumstances (Up: Body found, positive ID)
2
69
8K
Jezbollah replied
The man who owes Nintendo $14m: Gary Bowser and gaming’s most infamous piracy case
2
85
7K
SHA replied
Ancient Roman figures brought to life via AI
Science 2 3
100
9K
Dirk Benedict replied
Top Bottom