There was an article in my local paper today about a 12 yr. old boy who was attacked by a group of teens shortly after school was let out. There were bus drivers and people picking up kids, some of which I understand (because of age) did not step in or yell for fear of being attacked themselves. The busdriver did call 911 but I was just curious why didn’t they at least yell for help for the boy or try to encourage each other to run the kids off? Since I have never been put in a position like that before, I would hope that I could do something that would help immediately. I may not be able to fend off a group of teens but I could yell and cause a scene while me or someone else called 911. I just don’t know. Would you help? What would you have done?
http://bangornews.com/news/t/city.aspx?a=162680&utm_source=morning_update&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20080407&utm_campaign=morning_update
October 20th, 2009
id probablly run off
October 20th, 2009
If you have a cell phone, call 911.
Do not confront or try to stop the situation (screaming for help) – you will just put yourself at risk. And, you might not know the whole story – maybe in a sick way, the guy deserved it (bad drug deal, etc) – you don’t want to get involved in that.
Take very careful note of the attackers. Age, Sex, Weight, clothes, hair colour, race, anything else you can think of. Provide that information to the police in case they investigate.
October 23rd, 2009
I would probably have stood in shock at first but then I would have stepped in to help the kid.
I’ve done it before and I’d do it again.
There is NO excuse for violence like that.
October 26th, 2009
Hate to say it, but despite what people say how they actually behave can be quite different. You should look up the case of a woman by the name of Kitty Genovese. As reported in the New York Times March 13, 1964, thirty-eight respectable, law-abiding citizens witnessed her get attacked three times over the course of over half an hour and no one did anything about it. Nobody called the police until after she was dead.
Interestingly, people’s tendency to respond to emergencies is influenced by how many people are around. The more witnesses, the less any individual is likely
You might find the book below interesting reading. It’s on the famous Stanford Prison experiment and covers some thought-provoking aspects of social psychology.
October 26th, 2009
Hello,
To be honest with you like combat, most of us never know until we are ultimately confronted with the situation.
Still if there are 50 big strong people standing around and they do not all jump in to intervene, that is very despicable..
Cheers,
Michael Kelly