Would you intervene?

Of course I would call the cops! What's with these ignorant people? >.> I seriously don't get it.

This reminded me of that incident that happened in NY a couple months ago. A hobo in New York City saw that a woman was being mugged by a man one early morning. He attacked the mugger and ended up with several stab wounds. Ended up laying on the sidewalk in a pool of his own blood.

The lady who he saved doesn't even bother to call 911, she just goes back to doing her own thing. As he was slowly dying, people saw him clearly bleeding at a dangerous rate and unable to get up. Everyone just walked on by. Some stopped for a sec to look at the poor guy and kept going. It wasn't until a guy called 911 like an hour later that the hobo was sent to the hospital and eventually died there. I saw the security camera footage as New Yorkers stared briefly and continued with their daily routine.

I must say that people are selfish creatures. Anything that doesn't involve them, they tend to not do anything when they should. They are fearful that doing something might complicate their own lives. Jeez.

This is exactly the behavior that makes people not want to help. It's the same with injured people, no one wants to help even people with first aid training are weary not because they're selfish but afraid that the injured person will sue them (it has happened before).
These behaviors generally discourage acts of good will.



Problem here is if you intervene say by attacking the guy with your blunt instrument you'll be charged with assault instead.

The Good Samaritan law was made to prevent that very behavior, though it has so many loopholes that it's almost worthless.

Clamhead nailed it. "They don't want to complicate their own lives." That's where it starts, that's where it ends.

I wish the audio contained the woman screaming for help. It might have; if it did, I didn't catch it. I would have to say that I would be one of those who would not consider it my problem unless I knew without a doubt that someone was requesting help. Being a person who lived with parents that largely did not like each other, I am very used to screaming in the household and don't consider it an abnormality.

Also, I probably wouldn't go in there to help personally. I would call 911 and stay on site until they arrived and update them on whatever happened between my calling them and their arrival.

Thats exactly what I mean by selfish. Most people always think about what might possibly happen to themselves first. There's a guy dying on the street, blood everywhere and what does everyone first think about?..."If I help him, he might use the opportunity to take advantage of me." That's really the first thought that popped into their heads? Sounds like a pretty selfish mindset to me.

Looking out for yourself is good and all. However, being so cautious as to let a dying man just drift closer to death because your afraid of what could happen to YOU is too much imo. But humans are humans, only a small portion of the population are strong enough to do the right thing.

I am sad to say that given that situation I would neither call the police nor intervene. I am a strong believer that issues need to be sorted out by the involved parties and not by bystanders. However if it was evident that something really serious was occurring (i.e. murder) than I would intervene or call the police.

In that specific situation? Hell yes. I'd call 911, tell them what's happening, then tell them I'm going to go over there to try and stop it somehow. Now, I am a man, however I'm just kinda normal sized. I've trained in Karate for over 13 years, and would probably also have a very large knife on me (the one I sleep above, most likely), and am not afraid to kick down a door. Now, I wouldn't call unless I heard it turn violent, either physically or verbally. If the lady breaks down and cries and the douche is still yelling, yes, I'd call, but not bust down their door. Maybe go knock on it to see if I can help in any way. If it's just an equal argument? No, those happen, I'd just go see if I could help, maybe let the dude crash at my place for a night to cool off. But if I hear someone striking, man or woman: that's a big no-no.

Edit: Screw people that hurt others (Note: unless in self defense, of course. Because honestly, in defense of my own life or someone else's, I'd kill 'em. I'd kill 'em dead. And I'd sleep well that night).

It's a crime and the partners that kill their woman should be sentenced to at least 15 years of jail.

I would intervene if there are now pleadings for help, I would probably call the police while rushing to the site but I have to take extra precautions not to further aggravate them since it may lead to a worst case scenarios.

There are also some things to consider, but there can also be other possibilities:
1. If the door to their house is locked, we don't really know what's happening inside.
1.1 If we like knock on the door and ask what's happening, we don't know how they will react. Will they stop? Will they continue?

but if it was me, I would knock on their door and ask "What's happening?" and try to calmly talk to them.
I'm a peace-maker type of person. I hate quarrels and stuffs.
:')

People seem to think that if they do something to intervene, something bad will happen to them. This, coupled with the Bystander Effect will probably kill any possibility of intervention.

People are scared to become a third party in such arguments/fights/conflicts.

Really, it depends. Misunderstanding and all that blah blah blah. But if I heard it more than once, I would at least knock on the door, check it out and decide on that. After that, either intervening myself (I've got enough bodymass and a rusty bloodstained crowbar [long story] to be intimidating) but if it was something really serious I'd call the cops.

Personally, I'd like to think of people as capable of resolving their own problems, but far too often they lack the brain to do so.

Of course! That's why we have law enforcement! :3

Well, although it makes me feel terrible to say it,I'd probably only help them if they were a neighbour I knew well and if they were either a woman or child. The most restrictive part of that would be the KNOWING bit. Fighting or protecting is not an issue as Im a martial artist but I just generally wouldnt wanna get myself into unnecessary trouble. So it'd have to be a neighbour I talk to often and is under 18 or is female.

Like, I used to be the one getting beat around by one of my parents so unless the person fit the criteria I set I'd probably either call the police or do nothing. I wouldnt want any unnecessary trouble.

Very interesting. My educated guess is that they don't care unless it bothers them. The only difference in the domestic abuse situation is they might get hurt helping. People think what happens in someones house stays in their house. Homes are a symbol of privacy and that's the way people see it. Lets say you punished your child and you don't think it was a big deal. Well I bet if you told someone that you pulled out a belt and spanked your kid. Then people would oppose you even though they might do the same thing differently. It all comes down to whats accepted morally in the community and what your capable of doing in your own home.

BTW I would probably call the cops too. It all depends on how far its gotten and if it stops suddenly.

Definitely intervene. I've had to directly intervene in something like this only once in my life but I would do it again if I had to.

Yeesh, that video is pretty disgusting. But... we can't be sure they didn't call the police or something like that really can we? We only know that no-one had the guts to go there themselves. (apart from the cat) If it was just yelling I might call the police if I could hear someone screaming and stuff being broken I would be highly tempted (dunno about a certain I "would" until it actually happens) to go round myself. (and call the police) But it might have had something to do with the area as well, its sad but maybe the people there were used to that sort of thing?

Have before, and probably will again. most wife beaters are huge pussies. if another man gets in their face, they usualy punk out.

my dad once choked out some tool who was beating his wife/gf. he had him on the ground and a bunch of slack jaw yokels were just standing there staring. he held him there until he heard a clicking noise and looked up to see a sherif with his gun to the wife beaters head.

I'm not entirely sure if I would. If all I hear is arguing...well, they got married. They can suffer.

But when I start hearing crashing, crying, or other sounds of violence escalating beyond the verbal, then I would act. Turn-on the voice recorder to monitor the abuse, call the police. And after they "can't do anything", and the DV persists, then I show-up strapped and try to help the woman.

i've yet to watch the video, as it's almost 4AM, but i read a lot of the posts here.
yes, i would intervene. in a case of hearing it, like you, neko-chi, i would indeed call the police.
but i've seen it a few times.
i'm a bit of an idiot for this, but i step in and speak up. i usually get the shit beaten out of me by violent and/or drunk dudes, but i honestly don't care. :/
i may be stupid for it... but, better me than someone else, in my opinion.
and the girlfriends/wives/whatever that were going to get that abuse, usually call the police since they have the chance. :/
that's in my experience, anyway.