LAist: Man is Stabbed, Cries for Help, People Hear, Do Nothing, Man Dies

G Pro

Fri, 09 May 2008 14:05:31 -0800

Given the way the article was written to imply someone was calling for help, this is from the comments posted on LA Times: When I went to the neighborhood meeting, it was clear to me that the neighbors who heard it thought it sounded like a cat moaning or someone who was drunk. They did not think it sounded like a man, homeless or not, calling for help and dying.

Gweedough

Fri, 09 May 2008 11:29:07 -0800

"it never hurts to call the police to do there job" Not "there" job. THEIR job!! Oy...

Zach Behrens

Fri, 09 May 2008 11:12:11 -0800

I would say that it's not our job to discern. If someone is calling for help, whether it is real or not, we assist them by calling the proper people. If it ends up being some crazy person that the police have to keep coming out and wasting their time on, they will deal with it. LAPD analyzes all incoming calls and reports on frequency of calls from a certain location. When it hits 10 or more times, the captain of the station will go to the Senior Lead Officer for that area and say "hey, what's up? Find out what's happening and solve it." That's why the street intel is important. Give the info the to the police and let them decide how to handle it.

G Pro

Fri, 09 May 2008 10:55:19 -0800

I live three blocks north of where the incident occured. Its not uncommon to see a homeless man laying on the sidewalk or hear moans or screams. (also, the area is condensed with a high vehicle and pedestrian traffic). You become desensitized to the abstract noises and images around you because of the frequency of them. It takes a closer observation to discover the truth, and on a daily basis, how do you discern?

Manny

Fri, 09 May 2008 10:48:04 -0800

The fact that this story is more saddening than surprising tells you something about the time we live in...

b3rti3

Fri, 09 May 2008 10:24:28 -0800

there's a psychological term for this "the uninvolved bystander effect" first noted in the 50s with Kitty Genovese's murder. I definitely support getting to know your SLO. I just recently met mine, and he is super helpful. I also gave my neighbors the SLO's info. if you think your neighbor will get involved and vice versa, you're just perpetuating the uninvolved bystander effect.