|
Bill compels witnesses to report crimes
By DAVID KARP © St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 1998 The teens looked on as 17-year-old Nicholas Cordero was beaten to death with a baseball bat, authorities say. After the beating, the group of kids ran. For an hour or more, no one whispered a word. Authorities soon charged 18-year-old Miguel Nieves with the boy's murder, but they could do nothing to penalize the kids who looked on. Simply watching a murder without reporting it is not itself a crime. Not yet, anyway. Two state legislators from Tampa, Reps. Deborah Tamargo (R-West Tampa) and Victor Crist (R-Temple Terrace), have drafted a bill that would make it illegal to witness a violent crime and not report it. "To merely turn your back on something as horrendous as an individual being murdered is unacceptable," Crist said. "It is almost unthinkable. "It would be like watching someone drowning in a river, and standing there without throwing them a life raft." Nicholas' mother, Barbara, went to Tamargo with the idea for a Good Samaritan bill this summer after her son was killed. "Nothing is going to bring my son back," she said. "But for five people to watch and not report it, it just outrages me." The Hillsborough State Attorney's Office plans to call the teenagers as witnesses in Nieves' first-degree murder trial this year, Cordero said. But she wishes something could be done to the kids who watched her son die. If the teenagers had reported the beating right away, perhaps paramedics could have saved Nicholas' life, Cordero said. "Was he dead instantly? Could there have been something done? I don't know." Three states -- Wisconsin, Minnesota and Vermont -- have Good Samaritan laws that require people to help someone in need. Civil libertarians say the laws can expose bystanders to danger and to the risk of lawsuits, especially if someone's aid does more harm than good. Tamargo said she plans to draft a narrow bill to avoid some of those problems. The bill, as written, would apply only to people who witness violent crimes, not purse snatching or even drug dealing. The bill would require people to call 911 or authorities, but it would not force them to intervene in a crime they witness. The penalty for breaking the law could range from 60 days in jail to 5 years in prison.
Business |
Citrus |
Commentary |
Entertainment
|
Home
AMPA -- The scene on a sweaty Saturday in June, authorities said, looked like this: Seven teenage boys sitting around an apartment pool watching one of their friends die.
