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LEGAL EXPERTS IN the US say a group of Florida teenagers had no obligation to rescue a drowning disabled man they instead mocked, laughed at and recorded on a video that was later posted online.
Still, authorities are pursuing possible misdemeanor charges against them for failing to report a death.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in a 2012 legal argument, summarised that across the US 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,” Kennedy said in arguments on the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Kennedy added that there are “some severe moral criticisms of that rule, but that’s generally the rule”.
The case in central Florida’s Brevard County involves the drowning of Jamel Dunn, aged 31, in a retention pond on 9 July.
Police in the city of Cocoa discovered later that five teenagers, aged between 14 and 16, had made a video of the drowning, which was published today by Florida Today.
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 online, officials said they were pursuing misdemeanor charges of failure to report a death against the teenagers.
“While this in no way will bring justice for what occurred, it is a start,” Cocoa Mayor Henry Parrish III said.
I know that everyone working on this investigation has been tireless in their efforts to find answers. Everyone has been affected by what we have seen.
Many countries, including Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Russia, do have laws requiring people to render aid, even if it means only summoning authorities. And violations in some countries can result in prison time.
But Florida’s law is hardly unique across the US, legal experts said.
“Generally, throughout the US, there is no duty to rescue,” said David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice.
Still, he added: “It seems like common sense that those kids should have tried to help the guy instead of filming it.”
There are some differences in various states, but Weinstein said exceptions typically include required assistance in car crashes; for people in special relationships with others such as police officers, firefighters, teachers, married couples, common carriers such as bus drivers and employers; and if you yourself put the other person in danger in the first place.
Some states, such as Nebraska, require most people – especially professionals – to report suspected child abuse or face possible misdemeanor charges, said lawyer Jeffrey Lapin in Lincoln, Nebraska.
He agreed the Florida teenagers committed no crime.
“While it is morally and ethically wrong, it is not illegal to not render aid or make extremely despicable comments,” Lapin said in an email today.
The Cocoa mayor, Parrish, was even more blunt:
Never in my life would I have ever thought we would need a law to make this happen.
Lapin noted that in the final episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, the four main characters are convicted of violating a purported city ordinance by failing to assist an overweight man who is getting carjacked – instead joking about the man’s large size and doing nothing.
The judge character said the four had “callous indifference and utter disregard” for a positive society. But most US states have no such laws.
There are situations in which US law does require assistance to be rendered. One of those is on the high seas, where federal law requires the “master” of any vessel under US jurisdiction to help anyone “found at sea in danger of being lost,” according to the statute.
A 1989 international treaty extends that obligation to mariners around the world.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia also have “Good Samaritan” laws aimed at protecting people from being sued for anything they did while rendering aid or attempting to rescue someone in danger.
There are exceptions to those laws as well.
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Every supermarket in Holland has had this since before I arrived 28 years ago. We pay a deposit on our bottles, plastic and glass and we get our deposit back when we return the bottles
@John Brendan Mullen: That was also a thing in all eastern european countries. It disappeared as soon as multinationals hit the market. Problem with recycling does not lie with people but with companies who are constantly looking at how to increase profit.
I remember well returnable sturdy plastic bottles for coke/fanta etc… Companies figured out that it is cheaper for them to make single use cheap plastic bottles than to bother with shipping and cleaning returnable bottles for another use.
@Pat Patovic: It’s still a thing in Germany, old eastern for that matter, most prevelant in off licences/drink shops. Great system…
@John Brendan Mullen: it’s everywhere in Denmark too
@John Brendan Mullen: when I was staying with my aunt in Boston in 93, she used to take her empty cans to the supermarket and they had a counter near the entrance that gave you money off vouchers for your shopping for every can you returned!! Don’t know how much it was but enough to make her keep empty cans.
@John Brendan Mullen: same here in Germany
These machines have been in the Netherlands since at least 1994. We’re only 25 years behind on this one…
@Kiernan Gildea: I arrived in Holland in 1991 and they were already there.
@John Brendan Mullen: They had them beside the Red Sea when Moses parted it.
@Alan McDonald: is that how all the plastic ended up in the ocean?
@Alan McDonald: ha ha ha ha excellent
@Alan McDonald: brilliant
We had a glass bottle return in my Mam’s shop back in late 70s and early 80s and everyone brought back their glass and the various companies took em back for reuse then Tetra Pak and plastic became the norm and wiped the glass out. I always thought milk tasted nicer out of glass pint bottles. We also had a far cleaner countryside cos every child would be fighting over dumped bottles Togo and get 10p which would buy a good few sweets
Go deas le feiceáil. Ba chóir ceann a chur i nach siopa
@Séan Ó Nuanáin: Ta me Mahogany gas pipe. Nil aon Fáine Or agam!
These should be common place in every town village and city in Ireland.
No brainer!!! Why the hell is this only happening now??
@Devilsavocado: it’s Ireland
@Devilsavocado: we’re leprechauns. If it makes sense we will deny it for as long as possible until one day many years later someone will have a lightbulb moment…. Meanwhile the world’s moved on….
I’m 54. As long as I recall this was standard for glass bottles since I was small. Later plasticbottles and cans were added to the system.
This was in Finland.
@Nina Wallenius: time to return to glass bottles
Country is awash with glass
A broken bottle in the sea has majorly less impact on the environment than a plastic straw
@Means of escape: what about the energy used to make and transport the glass bottle? Also the natural resources used to make the glass bottle?
@John Horan: I may be wrong but I think the recycling process for glass is easier. Transport is more expensive as heavier but I think the environmental impact would still be less with glass
I remember politicians saying it wasn’t feasible to do this in Ireland. More down to the fact that they are to lazy and in bed with Multinational companies
I seen this in Germany 13 years ago and Ireland only gets it first one now typical ireland
Why cant we just be like the rest of the world and get actual coins for bringing bottles back? The homeless in germany and canada as i witnessed even go through the bins to get bottles. Less rubbish, more recycling and keeps people fed. Vouchers is a step indeed but it’s better to get that 25c back off the bottle. All adds up.
In Ireland they’ll probably set up a company first.. ‘Irish Plastic’, spend a lot of money on consultants, charge supermarkets a lot of money installing the machines….and then don’t follow through….
This is great to see but I guarantee you some little knackbag will put his hand in it, get injured and mammy will sue. Joe Duffy will hop on the bandwagon, call it a disgrace and the whole thing will be cancelled. This is ireland remember.
It’s a start but why does it take us so long to do everything that is good, surely these machine can be fitted in every town by Christmas
No where in this article or trial does it.mention a bottle deposit. Otherwise, at 10c a bottle refund, this is not viable.
@Lar Meyler: because it’s a trial….
@Diarmaid O’Riordáin: it’s 100% viable tax the bottle makers and allow normal people to recoup the money for recycling them
This is even a thing in some US states like Michigan. Has been for years.
8 cent after Tax
About fekn time …Simple idea
Great idea! I am living in frankfurt we have them over here really encourages ya to recyle plus you get paid
What can be done with the voucher? Is it cashed out in a shop?
Probably got to give 50 bottles back just to get the 10c.
But you are paying for the recycling. Look on the bottles for the recycling sign, that means there is already a levy to pay for the recycling. Rip Off Ireland at its finest
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