What should you do if someone is calling for help?

[jgradyc]

As I type this, the witness who made one of the 911 calls in the Zimmerman case is describing the fight and the yells for help. 

 

What should a responsible person do in that situation?  As a woman, she was probably right to call 911 and not get involved, but as a man, I'd feel responsible to DO something.

 

What would be the right, responsible thing to do?

[RobertNashville]

Getting involved in someone else' fight is an extremely dangerous thing to do....there is SO much that can go wrong you almost have to stay out of it.

 

Certainly, call 911 and explain the situation...be a GREAT witness if you can be.  But other than that I would not rush into help anyone unless I was ABSOLUTELY sure I was helping the "right" person.

 

Certainly, some situations are easier to know...when the two people are clearly mismatched (a man and a child or a man and a woman, etc) then it's safer to act but still not certain.

[Lumber_Jack]

personally I would call 911 and move so that the parties know im present.  Instruct the fighting to stop (especially if its a one sided beating).  But I wouldnt physicaly get involved unless someones life is in eminent danger.  Regardless of the circumstances if someone is about to be beaten to death, it needs to stop.  Even if they were defending themselves, the threat is long over at that point. 

 

other than that its situationally dependant

[Guest Keal G Seo]

Yeah I had thought of this issue a while back. After Zimmerman I am not sure I would do anything and here is why (using Zimmerman's story as an outline): So I hear "HELP" and I grab my gun (with the intention of protecting myself not the other parties) and cell phone. Head out the door while calling 911. Find the two fighting, As LJ said, tell them to stop but not get physically involved. Zimmerman's gun goes off. Now I have a dead body in front of me with the shooter still armed right in front of me...

Not entirely sure how I would react in that situation. Even with Zimmerman on bottom getting beat up, do I see it as a life threatening beating or was it only as bad any street fight I have seen? Do draw on Zimmerman/the gunman to protect myself? What happens if he ADSs me as well?

Too much to go wrong. Unless it is my family or a close friend I am going to stay out of it. Will call 911 and watch through a window if I can for ya but ain't coming out.

[Caster]

There's no set in stone procedure for this. It's a case by case kinda thing.
ANY amount of injury or threat of lawsuit is worth enduring to prevent someone from hurting a child. On the flip side, I ain't getting in between two grown men.

I'd say the majority of the time, ole Caster will be walking and dialing the cell phone. I hate to say that, but I have people who depend on me just like the rest of you gentlemen. It's an absolutely atrocious attitude on my part, but better them than me.
There IS a line though. I wouldn't stand by while some guy beats down a woman half his size. I wouldn't walk away from a child in danger.

It sucks to be this way but the filthy Godless subhumans that make up a large percentage of our society have forced this policy upon us.
Chivalry is dead, not because the gentleman is extinct but because the gentleman has been persecuted and chased into hiding. Edited July 8, 2013 by Caster

[tnguy]

Bear in mind that Zimmerman wasn't just a passerby and should have been known in the neighborhood so it should have been possible to make a reasonable call on the good guy/bad guy thing.

 

If someone was able to get Martin off of Zimmerman, it might just have saved his life. But I'm not going to second guess anyone on the available information, particularly an unarmed female.

 

There probably wasn't a lot of time anyway.

Edited July 8, 2013 by tnguy

[TMF]

Probably the best most general thing I would suggest is call the Popo, then make sure to holler that the police are less than a minute out. That should stop most folks from doing what they're doing. If someone was in that category of great bodily harm or death I would not be able to face myself in the mirror if I did not intervene.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I was beginning to wonder, Dan. I couldn't let someone get beat to death after seeing I could intervene,

especially after the call to the cop shop. In my case, I would probably not be of much help, but I couldn't

stand by, either.

 

If you don't get involved in turning some situations around, could you live with yourself? Same with guns.

If you don't show you will stand up against tyranny, or just some thug, you or I may be the next one. But,

hopefully the cops get there before it has to get that far.

[Guest Keal G Seo]

I hope this is adding to the OP: How do you tell if a fight/beating is a life threatening situation? I mean I have seen quite a few "street fights" that I would wager others that have never seen real fights (more than 3-4 punches) would call life threatening. To be honest I don't think I could distinguish unless one of them was unconscious and still getting beat on for more than a couple seconds.

[DaveS]

After seeing what Zimmerman has gone through.....call 911 and mind my own business unless I know the FACTS of the situation!

 

Dave

[Caster]

After seeing what Zimmerman has gone through.....call 911 and mind my own business unless I know the FACTS of the situation!

Dave

There's a good point. Knowing the facts first. No one wants to get involved in a marital dispute and god forbid you get in between two brothers fighting or something.
Now, if you happen to be there when poop goes down, might be different but even still. Find cover, call 911 get your wife out safe.

I've told the wife in conversations about active shooters, my handgun is for one purpose and one purpose only. To get YOU in my truck alive and the heck outta dodge. Plowing over bushes and spinning a main bearing if I have to. Cars are easily replaced and mine have full coverage insurance and factory warranties so pour it to it. Edited July 8, 2013 by Caster

[NoBanStan]

If you're my wife....you run outside and yell "I'm calling the cops". Which is exactly what she did when she saw about 10 teenagers fighting in the neighbors yard. Fortunately they are just white trash and were making a video of it for "fun".

We had ourselves a nice discussion about it. It went something like "what in the f--- were you thinking running out there like a fool... are you trying to get yourself killed....etc....etc."

[Erik88]

It really depends on the situation. If someone would have come to the aid of George Zimmerman he wouldn't be on trail for his life and Treyvon would still be alive.

 

 

Sometimes "being a good witness" just isn't enough. Because of lawsuits we've become a society of pussies terrified about what might happen. Again, it depends on the situation.

[DaveS]

I should clarify my statement. If I see an elderly person getting beat down and some thug trying to take his/her purse or wallet, I may intervene. All others depends. Most likely just call popo. I stuck my nose into a situation one time where a girl was beating her 18 month old child senseless in the walmart parking lot. That caused me a whole bunch of legal problems. Figured then that minding my own business was the best thing to do!

 

Dave

[RichardR]

I'm a good samaritan, I will always be a good samaritan regardless of either physical or legal risks, doing the right thing isn't always easy or safe, but I couldn't stand idly by & allow harm to happen to someone, anyone, desperately screaming out for help.

[Randall53]

If it's family or a close friend, I'll be helping......otherwise I'd call 911.

[Sam1]

Remember this key piece of information:

 

While at UT hospital after the motorcycle wreck in '11, I was housed next door to a guy that got peppered with birdshot from a shotgun all over his head, neck, back, butt, legs etc... and every single day they came and got him to take him to some big tub that he had to soak in before they scrubbed him down with brushes.  I was there for 2 weeks, he was there before I got there and after I left.

 

Because he was trying to be a good samaritan and break up a fight between two strangers.  There was a third person standing off to the side that got him... He also had no health insurance, so not only was he jacked up, his wife was a complete mess every time we seen her and I can only imagine the financial troubles that he is dealing with.

 

I agree with Randall, family or a personal friend then yes depending on the circumstances, two strangers will get a 911 call and as much help as you can give over the phone but that's it.

[Guest Keal G Seo]

One more thing I haven't heard is this: Given a stranger situation, even if you kinda sorta knew the person from the neighborhood. If you intervene there is a high probability you could be injured as well...even if it is just a knuckle skinned on his tooth when you punch one them or a scraped knee or whatever. Now you have an open wound and I bet you that in a fight where someone yells for help they are bleeding as well.

So, how about blood born diseases?

Again, family or close friend for me.