Video: Elderly man left for dead in street as cars drive past
posted at 12:00 pm on June 5, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Via Breitbart. The old O’Reilly conundrum recurs: Is this exploitation or a shame-inducing corrective to bad behavior? For me it falls into the same category as the Florida girlfight, something you wouldn’t think twice about if it was described to you but which you won’t soon forget once you’ve actually seen it. Rough stuff, and the accident itself is captured in excruciating detail, so please observe this, your official content warning.
Minor mitigating factor: The victim is still alive. Sort of.
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Actually it is rather clear. It is in fact similar to a case I once had. The one where the dog didn’t bark.
Holmes on June 5, 2008 at 1:26 PM
Well sure Splashman. Thats kind of my point. It would take a rather sharp, exceptional person to have the presence of mind to get that info during that chaos. Those are qualities that seemed to be… lets see… how should I put this… absent, lacking, from the crew standing around that scene. Hence the confidence in my prediction that nobody there got the plate number.
Zetterson on June 5, 2008 at 1:26 PM
I hope you’re right, but I have my doubts.
Yes, well said.
omnipotent on June 5, 2008 at 1:27 PM
You know what, i don’t believe that at all.
There are all types of people out there who will help someone at the drop of a hat because of what they did or didn’t see.
I helped a man whom I knew had fallen and I thought was stuck and come to find out he was dieing of heart failure.
I have helped on roll overs in ditches, by giving the person a blankets to keep warm and turning off the engine before the medics arrived.
I have even stopped to grab animals out of the road so they don’t get hit and take them either to the vet if they did get hit or the pound where their owners can get them and they are safe.
Just because some people can stand their and watch doesn’t mean others don’t at least try to help… and that isn’t on the fact they are given orders to help.
upinak on June 5, 2008 at 1:27 PM
Sadly true, I fear for my daughters and cannot imaging what their children will face. Why we are recreating the third world here defies rational explanation.
dmann on June 5, 2008 at 1:28 PM
They were probably too tired to get the plate numbers after spending a long, hard day hanging around while collecting welfare or SSI.
If this was earlier in the day, without so much rush hour traffic, someone would have went for his wallet.
reaganaut on June 5, 2008 at 1:28 PM
Bridgeport is possibly the worst Conn. has to offer. Stamford’s not too bad these days. But Hartford is a strange city…people are “out there” so to speak. Hartford’s got one of the worst rich-to-poor ratios in the country.
JetBoy on June 5, 2008 at 1:28 PM
I know this, you know this, and many others do too….that wasn’t my point. I was illustrating the possibility of a scenario much like the one upinak endured.
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 1:28 PM
Horrible. Absolutely fricking horrible. I can’t remember where it happened, but this reminds me too much of the lady who was stabbed in a supermarket. The video showed at least four people walking past her while she bled out. At least two stopped to take a picture with their cell phone. Where did compassion go?
Suihei Deloi on June 5, 2008 at 1:29 PM
JiangxiDad on June 5, 2008 at 1:12 PM
We are related in more ways than this. Think about the books we discussed in the past, and your background, and leave it at that…
Yes, upinak is a lady, and a Soldier. Thanks upinak, for being the way you are.
p.s. love hazelnut anything, including the nuts.
Entelechy on June 5, 2008 at 1:31 PM
Clearly I am alone in my inability to discern peoples’ hearts & minds from a crappy video.
If you clearly know exactly what was going on, more power to you.
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 1:31 PM
I’m a bit confused. Which part of what I wrote don’t you believe? (I’m not being snarky; I honestly don’t get a connection between my comment you referenced, and your response.)
Splashman on June 5, 2008 at 1:35 PM
I hate to admit I agree with a Jets fan….Hartford is just bizarre along with Springfield, Ma. In my college days up river we never-ever-ever went anywhere either city! Trips the NYC, Boston or Providence were always fun and trouble free.
dmann on June 5, 2008 at 1:35 PM
My bad upinak. Let’s just say you are a good person and its too bad there wasn’t someone like you walking down the street when this hit and run happened. We would probably be typing here about the fine lady who was quick to jump in and help. Instead of comments predicting our nations rapid, inevitable devolution into the third world, we would be talking about how true hope for us lies in the hands of the good people like you who selflessly step up during another’s time of need. I just hope someone like you is around if anything like that ever happens to me. And I hope that I have the presence of mind to behave like you if I ever come accross an incident like this.
Zetterson on June 5, 2008 at 1:36 PM
Sure, but it doesn’t stop her and shouldn’t stop anyone else.
Or if it does cause you to pause, then you should at least do something that can’t get you sued, like call 911 with the cell phone you’re using to take pictures with, or get close enough to him to talk to him, or block off the road if possible, etc…
I completely understand people being too afraid to actually try to save the man’s life. I myself don’t even know CPR, but there are plenty of things that can be done that could never get you sued.
Esthier on June 5, 2008 at 1:36 PM
You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles. Exactitude is not needed in a simple case like this one.
Holmes on June 5, 2008 at 1:37 PM
I can’t say I’m shocked. Hartford is mostly slums; there are a lot of strange, welfare-dependent people there. This incident happened in a run-down area literally one block away from the hospital, which may explain why the police car got there so quickly.
Travis Bickle on June 5, 2008 at 1:37 PM
You said this.
Maybe where I live, we don’t have the luxury of waiting and have to jump in and do what is right. I may have to wait for a helicopter, which can take an hour depending on where I am… but at least the person I am with knows there is someone there.
I would like to ask everyone to take a couple CPR and first aid courses. It can and will save lives.. even in a big city.
upinak on June 5, 2008 at 1:41 PM
Sherry or custard?
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 1:41 PM
That picture yesterday of the drunk driver in Mexico plowing through a bike race was bad. But back on topic, since pedestrians walk against the flow of traffic and cyclists ride with it, most pedestrians don’t appear like they’re playing in traffic like a lot of cyclists do.
Then there are those stupid videos of cyclists actually playing in traffic that bring out the ‘deserved everything they got’ feeling in people.
James on June 5, 2008 at 1:41 PM
A friend was shopping at the local grocery store and a homeless man was trying to snatch an elderly lady’s purse. The homeless man stabbed my friend in the heart and he died a few minutes later. Nothing is as simple as it looks.
volsense on June 5, 2008 at 1:42 PM
heh…It’s not easy being green…
Yeah, Hartford really is a bizzare city. I went to U of Maryland, and Baltimore kinda reminded me of Hartford in a way. As far as the locals go.
I won’t even go to concerts at the Hartford Civic Center anymore. And there were a couple clubs I used to go to there sometimes, but Hartford’s not worth it.
JetBoy on June 5, 2008 at 1:42 PM
Just like upinak, engrish is my second language today! Time to hurt myself on the bicycle and dodge the 3rd worlders careening haplessly on the back roads of central Ma.
dmann on June 5, 2008 at 1:42 PM
For what it’s worth:
A few years ago, I worked at a Starbucks. One night, a man had a heart attack at my store. I wasn’t working that night, which was probably a good thing as the shift that was working that night was training in alternative medicine and had extensive training in CPR.
Unfortunately, it was a major heart attack and, even though the shift immediately began CPR and the paramedics arrived in less than 2 minutes, the man still died.
A few days later, I was the manager on duty when the man’s daughter called. She wanted to know how the people that had been there that night were doing. She was really concerned that her father’s death would be adversely affecting them. She also wanted to know if I could recommend anything that she could send them as a thank you for trying to save her father and being there for him at the end.
We tend to remember the stories where a good Samaritan is punished for trying to help because they are so outrageous that they stick in our memories as well as the fact that those sorts of stories are far more newsworthy than a story along the lines of “Person grateful to the stranger that helped them”.
What we need to remember is that the vast majority of people are extremely grateful to the people that stop and help them and/or their loved ones when they are in distress.
JadeNYU on June 5, 2008 at 1:44 PM
Which wasn’t what the NYT said it was. Surprise, surprise.
Jim Treacher on June 5, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Rough neighborhood.
I was hit by a car when I was a kid. And like this guy (who didn’t fly half as far as I did), it was my own fault. Luckily for me, people ran from all sides to aid me. Not that I was in any pain. I couldn’t feel anything — that is, until the EMT pulled my broken leg straight at the scene. I felt that. I recovered fully.
argos on June 5, 2008 at 1:48 PM
JetBoy on June 5, 2008 at 1:42 PM
I gave up on the civic center years ago, along with colt park and the meadows music theatre. I’m close enough to Boston, Providence and Worcester that Hartford can just go away!
dmann on June 5, 2008 at 1:50 PM
OT : With all this talk of CPR, are we all aware that the technique for restarting a heart has shifted somewhat? Forget the 5-pump-1-breath (or similar) pattern….the idea now is to pump like hell first, because without a beating heart, those lungfuls of air are worthless.
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 1:51 PM
Ouch. Very Ouch.
I decided to go fubar on my bicycle as a kid. Peddling along, then spazzed out and crashed for no good reason. Was all over the road. A shopkeeper nearby hurtled out and grabbed me under one arm, bike under the other and hauled me out of the traffic.
Left an impression on me, I assure you ;-)
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 1:55 PM
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 1:51 PM
I was taught to initially deliver 15 compressions before initiating any breaths.
dmann on June 5, 2008 at 1:55 PM
What did O’Reilly say that he would have done in this situation?
Maxx on June 5, 2008 at 2:04 PM
Right. There are variations on this theme. The new idea, as I understand it, is that the respiration is secondary to getting cardiac activity going.
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 2:05 PM
I was rollerblading home from work in NYC with a far superior rollerblader. He hopped up on a curb and bladed down the sidewalk. I followed, didn’t cut sharply enough, and rolled right across a tree grate (which happened to be the perfect size to stop my wheels from moving). My momentum allowed me to continue moving forward, sliding for about 15 feet on my face.
I emptied 3 store fronts full of people who came running out to make sure I was alright.
Say what you will about NYC (and I’ll be the first to admit that most of it is at least partially true), I never had any problem finding someone that would offer to help when I was having trouble.
JadeNYU on June 5, 2008 at 2:05 PM
Just to make it clear, I’m not saying you said anything about NYC one way or another.
I was just joining in the sharing of biking/blading ‘war’ stories.
JadeNYU on June 5, 2008 at 2:07 PM
Depends on the neighborhood. NYC is a city of neigborhoods, most with distinct charateristics and “characters.”
Don’t fall off your roller blades in the wrong one.
JiangxiDad on June 5, 2008 at 2:11 PM
Um, perhaps you didn’t notice that my comment was specifically in response to Zetterson’s opinion that the bystanders were dolts for not writing down the license plate numbers of the hit-and-run vehicles. In my comment, that’s what “…get the plates” refers to. My point was that while noting the license plates numbers would have been nice, it was too much to expect of bystanders, as the most natural initial reaction of shocked bystanders would be concern for the victim, not thoughts about the hit-and-run perpetrators. In earlier comments, I opined that bystanders should have jumped in and done something, such as stop traffic, yell for someone to call 911, do whatever they can to help, etc. So it appears to me that you and I are in agreement. Am I wrong?
Splashman on June 5, 2008 at 2:13 PM
Very true!
I have the egotistical tendency to use the term NYC but mentally define it as “my neighborhoods in NY”.
JadeNYU on June 5, 2008 at 2:19 PM
This is what I said to Zet:
As for the licence plates… I was speaking of the video.
And yes we are in agreement to a point. As you assume no one will help someone except a the right authorities, I on the other hand don’t rely on them because I know in my area, the wait can mean life or death.
I was talking about your sentence… not the whole comment.
upinak on June 5, 2008 at 2:23 PM
That is effed up.
4shoes on June 5, 2008 at 2:24 PM
I don’t know much about this case, except what was in the news. I thought that she was stabbed numerous times in public, was crying for help, and nobody helped her. Is that wrong? Was she only beaten, and people thought it was merely a domestic disturbance? I don’t know, which is why I’m asking.
I never could fathom a woman being stabbed dozens of times, and not one person trying to help…
Redhead Infidel on June 5, 2008 at 2:24 PM
I’d have gone to him and tried to help him. Screw getting run over yourself; you have to help your fellow man.
Here’s a pretty gruesome story I can relate. My late father was sitting on his front porch and heard the squeal of tires and a loud boom. He lived on 90 acres and there’s a state highway in front of the house.
He went down to the road to investigate, and the family that lived on the other side of the road had pulled out in front of a semi hauling feed in thier Corsica. It was utterly destroyed. The two children in the back seat, as well as the mother in the front passenger seat, were already dead. The father was in the driver’s seat, still had a pulse. My dad had a cell phone, and was able to get a signal (rare where he lived), and called 911. Without going up to the house to retrieve my mom, he stayed with the man until he expired. There was no way he could have extracted him without the jaws of life, and really, there was nothing that could be done at that point. But Dad took the man’s hand, even though he was unconscious, and prayed over him until the ambulance arrived, by which time (closest hospital is 15 minutes away), he died.
My point is, I don’t care if you don’t know CPR, or any kind of life saving actions to take…you go to the person. Nobody should die alone.
Nobody knows why he turned out into the path on an oncoming semi trailer…blood test showed he was sober. It was fast. The semi was not going too fast, either. It was just one of those things that happens.
I worked as a manager at a health food store, and one time, out behind the store, I saw a couple legs poking from behind a dumpster. I went over and saw a guy laying there. I put my hand on his shoulder and shook him, and he woke up and got up and ambled off. In my mind, when I first saw him, I thought he was dead. But I think I’d have been wrong to just ignore him laying there. That’s the way of things.
otcconan on June 5, 2008 at 2:36 PM
That’s mostly true. She was stabbed to death while people were nearby, but many people didn’t hear her screams and many only heard part of them and didn’t realize it was something serious.
Also, some people did call 911, and some even yelled at her attacker, who left then but later came back to finish her.
Esthier on June 5, 2008 at 2:41 PM
Pedestrian hit and runs happen all the time in Los Angeles…particularly here in the San Fernando Valley.
You put yourself in enough danger just trying to make it across a marked crosswalk, so jaywalking is certainly not recommended.
The Ugly American on June 5, 2008 at 2:42 PM
I simply can’t fathom how you can interpret anything I’ve written to support the assumption you attribute to me.
I have repeatedly stated that the bystanders should have done something — anything — to help, and I have never stated or implied anything about “the right authorities” being necessary. You are looking for something that isn’t there, and I won’t waste any more of my time trying to elicit understanding.
Yeesh.
Splashman on June 5, 2008 at 2:44 PM
So true.
Thanks for sharing that.
Esthier on June 5, 2008 at 2:45 PM
It takes the worst kind of piece of crap to not at least go and talk to the guy and check if he’s still breathing, moving, etc.
Grafted on June 5, 2008 at 2:47 PM
I disagree with a sentence and you can’t fathom it?
Then why are you getting all hot and bothered? It is the internet.. welcome to people being able to honestly misinterpert what you say!
Hell, let me be the better one and apologize before something else gets misunderstood. I don’t need the grief or the hassle today.
upinak on June 5, 2008 at 2:56 PM
This is very sad. I can’t believe not one person had it together enough to help this man. This is horrible and we are failures as a people. I know things like this cause shock However nobody was stable enough to handle it? Pitiful! We should all be ashamed. There is no excuse for this.
nursemorgan1 on June 5, 2008 at 3:01 PM
Don’t drag me down to your level.
Blow it out your ass - I’m disgusted by others. I am not ashamed of anything.
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 3:05 PM
“You take a chance getting up in the morning, crossing the street, and sticking your face in the fan.”
-Lt. Frank Drebin, Detective-Lieutenant, Police Squad.
James on June 5, 2008 at 3:10 PM
Don’t drag me down to your level. What level would that be? I sir would have helped the guy. Blow what out my ass? I guess your perfect or something? Would YOU have helped that poor guy? Oh you probably would just drove by and leave him there
being that your not ashamed of anything. I can tell by your reaction you are all talk. Now being disgusted by others……….I can agree with that. Their actions were disgusting.
nursemorgan1 on June 5, 2008 at 3:17 PM
If the arrest is witnessed (meaning, you are there right when they go unresponsive) it is 30 compressions followed by 2 breaths. if it is unwitnessed its two breaths followed by 30 compressions.
If the person goes unresponsive while you are there they already have O2 in the blood stream and you can immeaditly begin circulating the oxygenated blood. If it is unwitnessed then you need to get some fresh 02 in the system and begin circulating the oxygenated blood.
the goal is 100 compressions per minute. As a two person team you go for 5 cuycles of 30/2 and then you switch out.
RobertInAustin on June 5, 2008 at 3:21 PM
YES.
That’s the post I was waiting for.
This was horrible. Beyond horrible.
But some of us are way, way too quick to judge a whole country or a whole society based on the negative crap the media shows us.
The simple reality is that for every horrendous case like this, there are hundreds - thousands - of times that people step up and do the right thing, helping their neighbors, even committing acts of outright heroism.
This is not the rule. It’s the exception. I see the actual rule almost every single day. So will you, if you look for it.
Professor Blather on June 5, 2008 at 3:25 PM
First thing is make sure you are safe. You can’t help anybody if you are dead. Your safety comes first.
Second, you instruct people to call 9-1-1. People go into shock and they need to be told what to do.
Third, you have someone hold c-spine to protect the neck so as not to cause anymore injury to the neck.
You then do a head to toe inspeaction looking for signs of trauma. The rule is remember ABC. Airway, Breathing, Circulation. Make sure they have an open airway, make sure they are breathing and make sure they have a pulse. If you cannot maintain those three essentials than nothing else matters.
You then look from head to toe for sings of injury, and talk with victim while you are performing you assessment. Keep a check on their mental status, if their mental status starts to decline you better get them to an ER fast.
RobertInAustin on June 5, 2008 at 3:30 PM
That sounds right. Emphasis on compression, not breathing. That blood needs to be flowing in order for the O2 in the lungs to go anywhere useful. Apparently this new technique raises survival rates from 1-3% to nearly 10%.
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 3:31 PM
nursemorgan1 on June 5, 2008 at 3:33 PM
No, LimeyGeek is not ashamed because he definitely would’ve done something. I believe he was protesting the generalization that all humans ought to be ashamed for the cowardly inactions of a few. LimeyGeek, and almost every HA reader here, have nothing to be ashamed of, because we are of the Gray Tribe, and would’ve helped.
Redhead Infidel on June 5, 2008 at 3:33 PM
My own experience is that in most cases someone, and often many, will rush to help. I’ve even seen people get in arguments over who was most qualified to assist the victims.
Robert, as an EMT, do you have the same outlook as Nursemorgan here?:
How do our first responders view the public? Has experience taught them that most of us are no more than apathetic, self-centered, members of the herd who do little more than get in your way?
Rod on June 5, 2008 at 3:34 PM
Are you almost ready to go? I know you are about to leave soon.
upinak on June 5, 2008 at 3:35 PM
Thank you. You read me perfectly :-)
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 3:36 PM
How many people just went right by? How many? How many people just saw the guy and didn’t help.
nursemorgan1 on June 5, 2008 at 3:43 PM
Do you mind putting “c-spine” into layman terms?
Esthier on June 5, 2008 at 3:46 PM
I believe he is refering to the cervical vertebrae that need support to prevent further neck injury
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 3:49 PM
His neck.. hold the head so his/her neck won’t move.
upinak on June 5, 2008 at 3:55 PM
I think the view is, and I can only speak for those I know, is that people are afraid. Fear can paralyze us from acting.
Now, if a person is sick, chest hurting etc, people will try and comfort with words. But when that person goes unresponsive, people panic and freeze.
I can say even as an EMT there are times when we get to something bad that there isn’t a EMT who isn’t grateful for having a partner who has more years and more experience then they do. Why? Because we are afraid that we are going to screw up and kill someone. We are going to miss seeing some sign of hidden trauma and then the patient dies as a result. Sadly, we only get better in this profession by hands on experience, not just more text book studying.
So, yes, some people just don’t care, but I would say that most do but don’t know what to do. I have been in the barrio and had people just stand around looking like deer in headlights, and I have stood in the middle of the right neighborhood, in the right part of town with the exclusive people who stood around looking like deer caught in the headlights. The rich and the poor have one thing in common on this point, when a person has been hurt really bad, they both freeze and while they want to help, they don’t for fear of not knowing what to do. BUt what they also have in common is when we ask them to give a hand, they almost fight each other to be the first one.
RobertInAustin on June 5, 2008 at 3:56 PM
Thats it. Sorry Esthier.
RobertInAustin on June 5, 2008 at 3:57 PM
Actually - to correct myself - you’re immobilizing the head & neck to prevent further damage to the vertebrae and spinal cord, not necessarily the neck itself.
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 3:58 PM
RobertInAustin on June 5, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Thanks for the updated info, my last class was over tens years ago as part of ERT training.
dmann on June 5, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Don’t be so anal, you were right the first time. But you are correct. =)
RobertInAustin on June 5, 2008 at 4:01 PM
Thanks, Robert, for your response and for your commitment to serving us.
Rod on June 5, 2008 at 4:06 PM
Thank you both. I probably should take a CPR class some day. To be honest, part of the reason I haven’t (aside from the usual reasons of it slipping my mind or that I don’t have the time) is because the concept is a little frightening.
No need to apologize. I certainly appreciate the information, though I also hope I never need it.
Esthier on June 5, 2008 at 4:21 PM
Ok, it will scare you. I will give you that… but when the adreneline is rushing, you are there and helping, your mind going 30K mph and the fact that you are saving a life, you don’t think of that at that moment in time. You get scared after the fact and when you are asked to step aside when the proper people arrive, it is the feeling of total relief and then anxiety and fear for the person. I think that is as close as I can tell you how it feels. Other then the cold sweat you don’t realize you have on you.
upinak on June 5, 2008 at 4:26 PM
That’s very descriptive, and I’m sure you’re right. The worst part would be to be in that situation and not be able to do anything, especially if the thing you could have done would have saved a person’s life, possibly even a love-one’s life.
As a general note, it makes me glad to know so many of you who would help a stranger are out there even if we didn’t see that in the video.
Esthier on June 5, 2008 at 4:33 PM
This accident happenned too fast for anyone to get the license number. By the time they processed the event and understood what was happenning, that car was down the road. And you don’t always think of the best thing to do immediately.
However, there is no excuse for the bystanders to stand and do nothing while that wounded man lies in the road, let alone casually walk by him. It is the most natural thing in the world to run to the help of a person in distress. You are a moral idiot lacking normal human instincts if you don’t.
Bill at EjectEjectEject makes the useful point that our society consists of sheep and sheepdogs. When I look at that video, I see a street full of sheep, not one of whom is capable of taking command of the situation to make it right. My personal bias leads me to believe that nobody on that street served in the military.
What that street needed was at least one sheepdog.
Tantor on June 5, 2008 at 4:39 PM
This is why I’m so blessed to live in a southern conservative city. Half of the witnesses would have rushed to help the old man and the other half would have run down the hit and run driver.
I hate going up north. I see crap like this all the time when I go up there. I was in Brooklyn a few weeks ago trying to find an address on Atlantic avenue. I saw a couple of teens literally kicking the crap out of a homeless guy who was trying to escape by crawling under a pile of garbage. All these people passing by on the sidewalk and nobody said squat. I stopped and yelled at them and they started coming towards me so I sped off. I called 911 but even they didn’t seem to care.
Guardian on June 5, 2008 at 4:42 PM
nursemorgan1 on June 5, 2008 at 4:43 PM
When I was talking about the cold sweat.. you realize you get cold afterwards (from shock) and notice you are sticky.
I am sure some of the EMT guys can vouch, if they can remember when they first started. I am sure they are over that initial feeling by now.
I had a tech school in highschool for EMT I/II and passed.. but it has been years and I don’t remember much of my training, except that I get my CPR and first aid card every 2 yrs. Never know when you will need the training.
upinak on June 5, 2008 at 4:46 PM
That’s a lousy story. Atlantic Ave. is part of my old stomping grounds. As you know, and as the comment under yours says, most people are sheep. In NYC, their are plenty of wolves, and comparatively few sheepdogs. Even you had to flee. Many innocent people are prayed upon here because they are too young or too elderly. Young hip people in the prime of life move here for a few years for fun and excitement–most escape unscathed. For the long-term residents, it’s another story. Sooner or later you get it.
btw, mind saying what city you are in?
JiangxiDad on June 5, 2008 at 4:52 PM
I think it is people who don’t stand up for themselves or others that is the problem. They think someone else will take care of it. Or that whomever is being abused will eventually leave the other alone.
They do not see that if they help others occationally that it will come back around.
Assumption ticks me off. I don’t assume when it comes to people needing a hand. I just help. I just hope one day it comes back around to me when I am in need.
upinak on June 5, 2008 at 4:54 PM
RobertInAustin
Thanks for the information. None of us will ever know if we need it. Thanks for the work that you do, too.
RushBaby on June 5, 2008 at 4:56 PM
In the past 10 years, I have pulled dazed drivers from 3 different wrecked cars, one in the middle of a much busier and more dangerous street than this. It ain’t that hard. It doesn’t take much time. Could someone have just opened their damn cel phone and called 911? What is wrong with these people?
greggriffith on June 5, 2008 at 4:58 PM
Lots, don’t worry nursemorgan, I highly doubt any of us commenters were at the scene.
4shoes on June 5, 2008 at 4:59 PM
OMG This is messed up~!
HOw can those people(and I use the word loosely) go about their business and walk past that poor, poor man?? This is soo sickening!
God Bless that man.
becki51758 on June 5, 2008 at 5:02 PM
I don’t know this place, but I have been to other places where the ‘caliber of the demographic’ was, shall we say, minimal.
LimeyGeek on June 5, 2008 at 5:05 PM
Poor, dependent, on gov’t assistance, hopeless, New Orleans type victims of socialism.
JiangxiDad on June 5, 2008 at 5:07 PM
That’s a crappy neighborhood. My dad used to work out at Hartford Barbell which was right at that intersection, I used to play in the park across the street. The man was hit outside of 33 Park Street, right around the corner from the old gym (which is now boarded up). Lots of latino gang activity there, it is a bad part of town. Parts of Hartford used to be quaint, now it’s even more of a hole than when I was a kid. I guess it got bad once the Whalers left town.
Gotta love hockey at the mall. :-)
cannonball on June 5, 2008 at 5:29 PM
There is something about members of certain “communities” that have it as a matter of recourse to not get involved in ANYTHING that does directly involve them. They don’t help the police, they don’t help their neighbors, they don’t even help themselves. They are under the impression that everything should be taken care of by someone or something else. Then, when some type of disaster happens, like hurricane Katrina, they can’t understand why this “something else” didn’t come and save them, and they cry racism and wallow in their victimization. Well, this video exemplifies the deep hypocrisy and and the sickness of the underlying forces that cause people to behave so inhumanely. These forces are the forces of liberal thought, of the welfare state; that government is responsible for taking care, rather than individuals. It’s anti-community, and anti-human, as you can see clearly in the way people walk by this poor man and it doesn’t occur to them that they have a responsibility to help. If members of this “community” want the government to come save them, they might start by considering the old adage: “what you give, is what you get”.
pleaseandthankyou on June 5, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Harrisburg
Funny how they tout the mall as the #1 attraction. Lowes Motor Speedway is a couple of miles away and Charlotte is on the other side of that.
Guardian on June 5, 2008 at 5:39 PM
Interesting — earlier today, this story was on CNN’s home page, but just as one of many headlines. Now it’s the featured story (including pic) on their home page. I’m guessing CNN’s been monitoring the blogs to determine what’s hot.
Splashman on June 5, 2008 at 5:43 PM
Even strong tough looking muscle heads can’t take the sight of blood.
Not everyone can do it.
upinak on June 5, 2008 at 5:44 PM
Blame the f*&*ing lawyers for people’s reluctance to get involved. If some well-meaning samaritan so much as lays a finger of this poor guy to see if he’s alive, the bastard who gets the case will haul his ass into court and treat him as just slightly above the driver who hit the guy. Ever get stuck on a train or bus because of s “sick passenger”? That’s because the transit workers are instructed to do nothing but wait there until EMS arrives, otherwise they and the city will end up getting the short end of a lawsuit.
sanguine4 on June 5, 2008 at 5:59 PM
It depends on where you live but you can’t be sued in most cases.
Guardian on June 5, 2008 at 6:13 PM
Scarey isn’t it. I think it is great!
upinak on June 5, 2008 at 6:16 PM
Michelle Obama? Is that you?
The Race Card on June 5, 2008 at 6:32 PM
I think that about sums it up. You’re probably 100X less likely to see something like this in a red state.
Trainwreck on June 5, 2008 at 6:46 PM
Cheap shot. To see this despicable act (like burning the flesh of a young girl) and fume about what’s happening to this country is NO WAY related to not being able to ever feel proud of the country until your husband becomes famous.
JiangxiDad on June 5, 2008 at 6:50 PM
Let’s not hyperventilate. I’d call it a cheap shot (and lazy) to condemn the whole nation for the acts of a few.
Splashman on June 5, 2008 at 7:09 PM
Never said I DID NOT love my country, nor did I “condemn the whole nation”. All I mean is, between California, Vermont, Southern border war, Gun grabs, Congress circling the drain, Oil, Nanny State, Teens Pummeling each other online, gangs, drugs, obese govt. cheese addicts, public schools, hell! I can’t ride a frikin’ bicycle down my street without a helmet! I’m an ADULT! Lurking trolls on my favorite blog, etc. etc. etc.
It’s getting harder everyday.
ronsfi on June 5, 2008 at 7:35 PM
Unbelievable. This hurts my heart to see. It reminds me of the verse from the Bible when in the last days, men will only think of themselves… hearts will become hard… the video convicts those involved and I’d like to think that those reading this would do the right thing and step in.
CynicalOptimist on June 5, 2008 at 7:45 PM
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