New Yorkers are debating whether the city is growing heartless in the face of crime after at least 25 people walked past a homeless man bleeding to death in the street and failed to come to his assistance.
Shocking footage of the death of Hugo Tale-Yax, a Guatemalan aged 31, was captured on CCTV cameras in the Jamaica area of Queens. The video, put up on the website of the New York Post, shows pedestrians walking and cycling past the man during the course of more than an hour as he lay in a pool of blood on the pavement.
The footage begins at about 5.40am on the morning of Sunday 18 April when a woman wearing a jacket and skirt is seen walking along the pavement. She is being followed by man in a green short-sleeve shirt who comes up to her from behind. Though it is out of camera, it is assumed that Tale-Yax came to the help of the woman as she was being attacked by the man.
The video camera then captures the attacker fleeing in the direction in which he had come, followed a few seconds later by Tale-Yax who appears to be chasing him but stumbles on the pavement and falls.
He lies there, face down, in a gathering pool of blood, having been stabbed several times in the chest with a knife.
Several people then walk by, looking down at Tale-Yax but failing to stop.
At one point two men come out from a side building and stand around him, apparently discussing him; one of them is visible taking a picture of the victim with his mobile phone.
Later, a passerby does stop and lifts Tale-Yax's head and shakes him, then lifts his arm up, as if to see if he is alive. The passerby then turns and walks away.
It is not until 7.23am, more than an hour after the victim collapsed, that emergency services are called.
The apparent callousness of members of the public to Tale-Yax's plight has caused some hand-wringing on the part of New Yorkers. The New York Post dubbed the victim a good Samaritan and a "slain hero".
There has been comparison to another notorious murder in Queens in 1964 when a young woman called Kitty Genovese was stabbed in the street as she came home early one morning to her apartment block. More than 10 people in the vicinity heard her repeated screams but failed to respond.
ok, so someone is bleeding noticeably and no one calls 911, no one even asks "are you all right?" I don't think the bystanders could've confused him with an ordinary sleeping hobo, because of the blood. The most disturbing part is that someone lifts up the guy to see if he's alive... and then walks away. It makes me wonder whether all those 20+ bystanders were on drugs/booze or something.
Anyway, RIP to Tale-Yax. He's one brave fella, and it's sad that a good man like him had to die, and even sadder that he could've had a chance to live if someone had called 911 before it was too late.
April 26th, 2010, 09:56 PM
bravo22
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
Quote:
Originally Posted by flibitijibobo
Srs post:
What in living fuck? The pool of blood wasn't enough of an indicator that something was wrong with him?
They probably didn't think the effort would yield a cash reward or some shit. /sigh
First reaction post:
Tale-Yax: Customer
Stabs: DRM, DLC, etc.
People: paladin, Rook, consolers, etc.
I don't understand your last few words, but yeah I'm thinking the same thing - why didn't the people seem to realize what was going on from the blood?
And are people that heartless that they expect cash rewards for helping out a wounded man? I honestly doubt the homeless man was expecting a monetary reward when he tried to save the woman, even though he would've needed it the most.
April 26th, 2010, 09:57 PM
thehoodedsmack
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
It's a proven and commonly discussed psychological concept that the more people who are around to witness an incident, the less will take action. And by not taking action, it further supports the group idea that the problem isn't that bad, or isn't worth addressing, or they'll assume that somebody else has already taken action.
And I post this because it is also A PROVEN FACT (bolded to garner attention) that when people hear about this fact, they are more likely to give assistance in the future.
April 26th, 2010, 10:06 PM
ICEE
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
People have always been pretty sick. During the american civil war, people would line up on the hills bordering the combat zones and picnic. Sitting there watching people fight and die.
April 26th, 2010, 10:08 PM
bravo22
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
Quote:
Originally Posted by thehoodedsmack
It's a proven and commonly discussed psychological concept that the more people who are around to witness an incident, the less will take action. And by not taking action, it further supports the group idea that the problem isn't that bad, or isn't worth addressing, or they'll assume that somebody else has already taken action.
And I post this because it is also A PROVEN FACT (bolded to garner attention) that when people hear about this fact, they are more likely to give assistance in the future.
That's understandable, but it's not like there were rush-hour levels of pedestrian traffic at the time. When I once saw a motorcyclist get knocked down and then run over by an SUV outside my school, I didn't take action - but that's only because I saw other people dialing their mobiles right away (I didn't own a mobile phone at the time) and I heard them describing the situation. If I'd been the only witness, I would've run back into the school and told a teacher who would surely call 999 afterwards.
April 26th, 2010, 10:11 PM
Jean-Luc
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
Yeah, saw this on the news last night. Very sad, and very sobering.
Talked about it with my father, and he brought up an interesting point. People have, in a lot of ways, been taught NOT to help. Many people trying to be good Samaritans have aided someone in need...only to be sued for doing so. No bullshit, that stuff actually happens.
April 26th, 2010, 10:21 PM
Cortexian
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
Only in America.
Actually that's probably inaccurate since I would assume this is more common place in certain 3rd-world and developing Countries. However it really doesn't startle me, after hearing about that guy who died on a subway or something in the States and no one realized he was dead until he started to smell...
April 26th, 2010, 11:11 PM
paladin
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
Quote:
Originally Posted by flibitijibobo
Srs post:
What in living fuck? The pool of blood wasn't enough of an indicator that something was wrong with him?
They probably didn't think the effort would yield a cash reward or some shit. /sigh
First reaction post:
Tale-Yax: Customer
Stabs: DRM, DLC, etc.
People: paladin, Rook, consolers, etc.
WTF do I have to with any thing...
April 27th, 2010, 02:12 PM
Jelly
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
Quote:
Originally Posted by thehoodedsmack
It's a proven and commonly discussed psychological concept that the more people who are around to witness an incident, the less will take action. And by not taking action, it further supports the group idea that the problem isn't that bad, or isn't worth addressing, or they'll assume that somebody else has already taken action.
And I post this because it is also A PROVEN FACT (bolded to garner attention) that when people hear about this fact, they are more likely to give assistance in the future.
Yeah this is pretty much the case here. Get attacked in public, and your only hope is to single out a friendly face and specifically ask them for help. In a public area, people feel that responsibility is diffused amongst the crowd of people, so they'll watch something horrible take place, but won't want to do anything about it because nobody else is. When you single out a person, all the responsibility collapses on them and you're much more likely to get help.
April 27th, 2010, 05:30 PM
n00b1n8R
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jelly
Yeah this is pretty much the case here. Get attacked in public, and your only hope is to single out a friendly face and specifically ask them for help. In a public area, people feel that responsibility is diffused amongst the crowd of people, so they'll watch something horrible take place, but won't want to do anything about it because nobody else is. When you single out a person, all the responsibility collapses on them and you're much more likely to get help.
Quoting for wisdom~
April 27th, 2010, 06:31 PM
DarkHalo003
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
This really makes me sad. People already treat the homeless with distance and disrespect as it is, but watching the man die without one person even calling 911 before going about their business is ridiculous.
April 27th, 2010, 06:59 PM
Dwood
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
This is not new, and never has been. Heck, there's stories of it happening in The Bible!?!
its new york city, dont tell me that there wasnt a single person with a cellphone :v:
April 28th, 2010, 09:14 PM
bravo22
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
Quote:
Originally Posted by Donut
protip: people didnt have cellphones in 300 B.C.
its new york city, dont tell me that there wasnt a single person with a cellphone :v:
someone even photographed the dying man with his phone. WTF, if you're not going to help at least give the poor guy some dignity.
April 29th, 2010, 06:12 AM
Dwood
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
Quote:
Originally Posted by Donut
protip: people didnt have cellphones in 300 B.C.
its new york city, dont tell me that there wasnt a single person with a cellphone :v:
Who says you need to have a cellphone in order exert compassion?
April 30th, 2010, 08:41 PM
ninjashoes
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
This is why responsible citizens should be able to carry handguns.
May 10th, 2010, 09:31 PM
Sel
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
saw this on gawker a few days ago, absolutely disgusting.
May 10th, 2010, 09:47 PM
annihilation
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
I'm getting less and less suprised with these kinds of things.
So much useless self conceited people.
May 19th, 2010, 02:00 AM
Syuusuke
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
Day and day I grow to hate NY, the very place I live and grow in,
this certainly helps.
May 19th, 2010, 02:50 AM
rossmum
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
From what I hear you could pretty much get away with anything in NY, apparently nobody there really gives a shit?
May 19th, 2010, 02:06 PM
Cagerrin
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
May 19th, 2010, 02:45 PM
Syuusuke
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
in some places, yes
May 19th, 2010, 05:26 PM
Limited
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
Quote:
Originally Posted by thehoodedsmack
It's a proven and commonly discussed psychological concept that the more people who are around to witness an incident, the less will take action. And by not taking action, it further supports the group idea that the problem isn't that bad, or isn't worth addressing, or they'll assume that somebody else has already taken action.
And I post this because it is also A PROVEN FACT (bolded to garner attention) that when people hear about this fact, they are more likely to give assistance in the future.
That only applies when the actual attack/fight is occuring, it does not apply with the aftermath. It sickens me when people just look and walk on by, if the blood was clearly visible then thats even worse.
I saw a man get hit down by a car, TONS of people flocked around trying to help out (myself included). I saw a women having a fit in the street, again people stopped, although this time alot of us were puzzled about what to do because we know you shouldnt touch some one having a seizure, problem was she was banging her head against the ground.
May 20th, 2010, 09:36 AM
sleepy1212
Re: Man gets stabbed trying to save a life, bystanders walk by without caring
Quote:
Originally Posted by Limited
I saw a man get hit down by a car, TONS of people flocked around trying to help out (myself included).
I was in the same situation a couple weeks ago, a guy got hit by a car at the end of my lane where it meets the main road. We didn't stop because several people were already around him and several more were on their cell phones. We did stop half a mile down the road though when we saw an ambulance pull off the side of the road. They looked confused so I rolled down the window and told them where the accident was. I later found out that a man had shot himself nearby, not sure if the incidents were related but I'm sure now that it was the reason the EMT's were confused.
Last year my dad and I came up on a guy who had just wrecked his motorcycle. My dad got out and talked to him, trying to keep him awake while I called EMS. Again several other cars were stopped and people were trying to help.
I have never witnessed an accident or otherwise where regular people didn't try to help. Then again I have never lived in a huge city like NY where I suspect something like that is more likely.