text: The group of teenagers who filmed and mocked a man as he was drowning in a Cocoa pond will face charges after all, police said Friday. 
   
   Jamel Dunn drowned in a Cocoa pond July 7 
   
   5 teens laughed while filming drowning, police say 
   
   Cocoa Police turned to state death-reporting statute for charges 
   
   
   
   RELATED: Man's body found at edge of Cocoa pond identified 
   
   
   
   SEE BELOW: Video of the drowning ▼ 
   
   In a news conference, Cocoa Police Chief Michael Cantaloupe did not describe the charges that will be filed against the five teenagers who recorded and mocked 31-year-old Jamel Dunn as he drowned July 7. But he said that after looking long and hard at Florida law, the teens would face charges for not reporting a death. 
   
   He said that there's no law requiring to report to officials that someone is dying. But after someone has died, people are required to contact authorities. 
   
   A day after police said that no charges would be filed despite the immorality of the teens' actions, Cantaloupe said his detectives and prosecutors from the State Attorney's Office spoke for hours on Friday, trying to find a way to press charges. Police are now in the midst of paperwork to the office, he said. 
   
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   The statute they will use, Florida Statute 406.12, is typically reserved for medical examiners when it comes to reported deaths. It reads: "It is the duty of any person in the district where a death occurs, who becomes aware of the death of any person occurring... must report such death and circumstances to the district medical examiner." 
   
   The charge is a misdemeanor. 
   
   "It will be kind of a test case," Cantaloupe said. "... As far as we know, the statute has never been used in this way." 
   
   Cantaloupe said there should be a law that would make it illegal to not report someone who is dying and in need of aid. 
   
   "We don't want another family have to go through what the Dunn family has went through," he said. Building better laws, working with juveniles and establishing better family relationships may prevent another situation, he added. 
   
   Cantaloupe said it's possible Dunn would be alive today if one of the teens had called for help. 
   
   Cantaloupe said he's not giving out the names of the teenagers because it's an ongoing investigation. But he said their ages are between 14 to 16 years old. 
   
   BREAKING: @cocoapolice file charges against teens in case of man who drowned in pond. Chief -- it's duty 4 people 2 report death @MyNews13 pic.twitter.com/5I8XwwzQyE — Greg Pallone (@gpallone13) July 21, 2017 
   
   Charging documents and evidence are being sent to the State Attorney’s Office, which will determine whether the charges will be prosecuted. 
   
   Dunn's sister, Simone McIntosh, who just learned from investigators about the charges being filed, told News 13 that she "hopes they stick, and new legislation is written so this never happens to another family." 
   
   
   
   Cell phone video 
   
   In the disturbing cell phone video, Dunn, 31, is seen trying to keep his head above water in a Cocoa pond as the five teens stood on the bank, watching, laughing and recording the entire incident, police said. 
   
   They made it clear they were not going to help him. 
   
   "Ain't nobody going to help you you dumb *****; you shouldn't have got in there," one of the teens is heard saying. 
   
   Seconds later, Dunn goes under and does not come back up. 
   
   It's one of the most disturbing videos that Cocoa Police spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez said she has seen or heard. 
   
   "He went under, didn't come back up, and they continued to laugh," she said. 
   
   As one of them was being interviewed with his mother present, she was in tears, while the boy had a smirk on his face, she added. 
   
   The State Attorney's Office released a statement about the drowning. 
   
   "The incident depicted on the recording does not 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 of the deliberate decision not to render aid to Mr. Dunn," it stated. 
   
   "This is an isolated act of unspeakable inhumanity and in no way is a reflection of our community," Cocoa Mayor Henry Parrish III said in a statement. 
   
   
   
   Dunn was determined to have entered the water on his own after video from a neighbor’s security camera showed him scaling a fence and intentionally going into the pond. 
   
   'Rendering aid' is not a requirement in many states 
   
   When it comes to people in distress, many states do not require that someone render aid or even call authorities. 
   
   Some states do require assistance in car crashes, or if you're the person who put the other person in danger in the first place. 
   
   Another is on the water: Federal law requires a mariner under U.S. jurisdiction to help anyone "found at sea in danger of being lost." 
   
   Also, all states have good Samaritan laws that protect people from being sued for anything that happened while trying to help someone in danger. 
   
   Many countries do have laws requiring assistance, even if you only call authorities. They include Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. 
   
   Information from the Associated Press was used in this story. 
   
   WARNING: Some may find this video disturbing. News 13 has removed the audio of the video in respect to Jamel Dunn's family. ||||| Police in Florida are pursuing misdemeanor charges against five teenagers for failure to report a death after authorities say they recorded video of a man’s drowning and didn't intervene. 
   
   The video, taken earlier this month in Cocoa, Florida, about 45 miles east of Orlando, shows a person's head bobbing up and down in a pond. The teenagers, who are between the ages of 14 and 18 and have not been named by police, are heard laughing and joking in the video, with one of them appearing to laugh and say, "He just died!" 
   
   Cocoa Police Chief Mike Cantaloupe said the department learned of the recording last weekend and later reviewed it. Police identified and interviewed the five teens, he said. 
   
   Police in conjunction with the State Attorney’s Office determined that charges of "failure to report a death under Florida Statute 406.12," a misdemeanor, will be pursued, the Cocoa police said in a statement today. Police said the charging document, case report and video evidence are being sent to the State Attorney’s Office for review, and a decision about whether the charges will be prosecuted. 
   
   “When we initially reviewed this case it was determined there were no laws broken as the teens were not directly involved with the death,” Cantaloupe said in a statement today. "Further research of the statutes and consultation with the State Attorney’s Office yielded the decision to move forward with charges under this statute. It’s our belief that this law has never been enforced in a scenario like this, but we feel it could be applicable.” 
   
   Cantaloupe added, “Pursuing criminal charges is a way to hold them accountable for their own actions.” 
   
   Earlier, Cocoa police said that the five teenagers were not facing criminal charges after the State Attorney’s Office was consulted. 
   
   “As horrible as this video is the laws in the State of Florida do not obligate citizens to render aid or call someone to render aid to a person in distress," Cantaloupe said on Thursday. 
   
   The victim, 31-year-old Jamel Dunn of Cocoa, drowned July 9, police said. He was reported missing July 12 and authorities recovered his body July 14 after a passerby reported a body floating in the pond. 
   
   Police said home surveillance video apparently captured Dunn jumping over a fence and willingly going into the water. "I don't think you can ever replace a lost life," Cantaloupe told ABC News today. 
   
   He added, "I think what we look at is, the hope that what we do from here going forward, whether it be this charge or some new legislation, that another family doesn’t have to go through this. And that we work with our youth ... to instill these morals ... I would’ve never believed that somebody could watch somebody in distress and not do anything about it." 
   
   Of the video recorded by the teenagers, Cantaloupe said in a statement Thursday, "There are no words to describe how utterly inhumane and cruel the actions of these juveniles were towards Mr. Dunn. ... I want to express my deepest condolences to Mr. Dunn’s family and friends." 
   
   Cocoa Mayor Henry Parrish III released a statement today regarding the incident. "It saddens me to the core to watch video shot by a group of kids watching a man drown and doing nothing to help him. There just are no words to describe the lack of conscience within these young people," he said. 
   
   "I also would like to extend my deepest condolences to Mr. Dunn’s family and friends," he added. "My hope is we all come together to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else." 
   
   Parrish said of the decision to pursue charges, "While this in no way will bring justice for what occurred, it is a start." 
   
   "In a case like this we struggle to understand how anyone could be so cold and heartless and then learn that there are no laws in Florida that obligate someone to render aid or call for someone to render aid for a person they see in distress," he said. "If this case can be used as an example to draft new legislation, then I am committed to move forward to make that happen. More so, may this tragic incident, which has shocked all of us, cause each of us to examine ourselves and our responsibility to one another." 
   
   "I implore the State Attorney’s Office to follow through and file the charges presented by the Cocoa Police Department!" he added. 
   
   ABC News' Benjamin Stein contributed to this report.
target: – Despite reports Thursday that they wouldn't be charged with a crime, the five teens who allegedly laughed and filmed a man as he drowned in Florida earlier this month could now face misdemeanor charges. ABC News reports police have recommended charges for "duty to report" against the unnamed teens, who range in age from 14 to 16. News 13 explains that while Florida doesn't have a law requiring bystanders to report someone dying, it does have a law that requires people to report someone has died. Jamel Dunn, 31, drowned earlier this month. Cocoa Police Chief Mike Cantaloupe says it's the first time the law would be used in this manner, and the teens would serve as a "test case." News 13 reports the statute is most typically applied to medical examiners. The State Attorney's Office worked with police to come up with the charges, but the office will determine whether to prosecute the case. Cantaloupe previously called the teens' actions "utterly inhumane and cruel."