People suck.

[jlee]

NYC Stabbing Victim's Cries for Help Ignored

The Associated Press

New York --

Investigators say neighbors waited more than a half hour to call police after hearing a woman's screams for help as she was being stabbed to death at a New York City apartment.

Police found 21-year-old Ebony Garcia lying in a pool of blood at about 2:10 a.m Saturday. She was stabbed about a dozen times and died two hours later at a local hospital.

Witnesses say neighbors ignored the woman's screams for more than 30 minutes before someone called the police. One neighbor says she ignored the cries because she thought the victim had been drinking.

Police want to question Garcia's boyfriend. She had obtained a restraining order against him.

http://www.officer.com/online/...siteSection=1&id=42873

 

[Injury]

Whether you think they are drunk or not, you have a duty to call. There are certain words that, when yelled out, should be taken seriously regardless of skepticism.

Help, Fire, Ouch, Rape, No...

 

[MrWizzard]

When I was young my parents told me to yell, FIRE! incase something happened because people had become numb to HELP!.

Sad story...

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Perhaps she was known to be loud and obnoxious.

 

[Newbian]

I sleep heavy enough that I wouldn't even wake up.

 

[Anubis]

this isnt the first time this has happened, yes it sad and it sucks

theres some famous case where someone in NY wa sbeing stabbed on the street screaming and people did nothing

 

[MixMasterTang]

After about 60 seconds of screaming I would probably go over there rather than call the cops, but if nobody answered the door I would definately make a call.

 

[KeithTalent]

Tough situation and we don't know all of the facts. If it were a neighbour at my place yelling, I'm pretty confident I would have called the police right away, or at least would have notified our concierge.

However, every weekend, if I have my windows open, I hear so much yelling and sirens (there is an ambulance depot right near my place) that I've really become desensitized to it. So much so in fact, that there was a fatal stabbing, pretty much across the street from me on Saturday night and I didn't even realize there was anything out of the ordinary until I saw the news the next day.

KT

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Anubis
this isnt the first time this has happened, yes it sad and it sucks

theres some famous case where someone in NY wa sbeing stabbed on the street screaming and people did nothing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect

 

[KB]

Another case of the bystander effect. Everyone thinks someone else will help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect

EDIT: DOH, beaten on the link.

 

[oddyager]

Originally posted by: Anubis
this isnt the first time this has happened, yes it sad and it sucks

theres some famous case where someone in NY wa sbeing stabbed on the street screaming and people did nothing

and an incident where a woman, being chased by a rapist, ran up to a MTA attendant locked inside his booth screaming for help. he refused to open the door and said he would radio the police. the woman was then dragged back down in the platform area below and was raped.

people, in general, either don't care or are cowards. there are obviously exceptional individuals.

 

[Vehemence]

Prolly not

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Depending on the conditions of the scream, I might not pick up the phone first.

<-- knows his neighbors

 

[KB]

Also New York has some of the toughest gun laws on the books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...es_(by_state)#New_York

Do you really want to go help someone when you aren't armed as equally as the bad guy?

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: KB
Also New York has some of the toughest gun laws on the books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...es_(by_state)#New_York

Do you really want to go help someone when you aren't armed as equally as the bad guy?

Then call 911..

 

[gamefreakgcb]

Originally posted by: Newbian
I sleep heavy enough that I wouldn't even wake up.

 

[BKLounger]

well i know for a fact people are numb to the word help. I was in my backyard over the weekend gardening while a neighbor kid screamed help. I could see he wasn't in trouble he was laying in a hammock with the parents 10 feet away next to him on the porch. He yelled the words help for a good five minutes. Finally i got pissed and went over and asked what he was yelling help for. His reply was he wanted his parents to get him water. I was now really pissed so i turned to his parents and told them they should teach their son not to scream help if he isn't in trouble. Their reply was they have no control of what he does. That being said i just walked away in disbelief.

 

[Descartes]

I would, absolutely. I'd rather waste the cop's time for a benign incident than have the burden of guilt.

 

[axelfox]

Did those witnesses call? Did neighbors call only AFTER someone else called?

 

[ViviTheMage]

If it was MY neighbors in my complex, I would call the police and go to help asap...we are pretty close at my complex.

 

[DrPizza]

"witnesses"? How do you witness "those people heard her screaming help, but they didn't call"

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: KB
Also New York has some of the toughest gun laws on the books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...es_(by_state)#New_York

Do you really want to go help someone when you aren't armed as equally as the bad guy?

Since I don't own a weapon I guess I'll always be at a disadvantage to an armed assailant. That said I would still call and go over there.

 

[darkxshade]

"CAN YOU KEEP THE STABBING DOWN PLEASE, PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE"

I'm going to hell

 

[Xavier434]

I have no clue what really happened of course, but I feel it is worth throwing out the possibility that the area where this happened could be one of those which is regularly very noisy. If you live in a place like this then you know how easy it is to hear something really quick and then just kind of shut it out of your mind unless it sounds particularly unusual. This situation could be one of those cases. We really do not know how loud and clear the screams actually were. To call the cops every time you hear something in a place like this means you call almost every night which obviously no one does.

With that said, if the neighbors understood that what they were hearing was more suspicious than usual to the point of concern then they should have called the police or knocked on the door or something.

 

[Mo0o]

Pretty common psych phenomenon