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Showing Original Post only (View all)Passengers watched killing on Metro car. Should they have intervened? [View all]
Full disclosure: I work in a cubicle. I have never been in this situation. It's easy to sit in front of a keyboard and say what I would have done, but much harder actually to do it.
Witnesses to a stabbing didnt confront killer. Do they deserve condemnation?
Local
Suspect Jasper Spires; NoMa/Gallaudet Metro station; victim Kevin Joseph Sutherland. ((CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) Reuters, Evy Mages/For The Washington Post, Photo courtesy of Matt Grossman)
By Petula Dvorak July 9 at 6:00 AM
@petulad
What should they have done? What would you have done?
Theres a young man being brutally slaughtered punched, stabbed 30 or 40 times, stomped and repeatedly kicked in the head in a Red Line Metro car, in the middle of a holiday afternoon, in the nations capital, in front of almost a dozen witnesses.
Yet no one on the train confronted the guy who was killing 24-year-old Kevin Joseph Sutherland right before their eyes.
{Horrified passengers witnessed brutal July 4 slaying aboard Metro car}
This tragedy has become a litmus test online, where the Internet is full of heroes and the heroic ways they claim they would have reacted to Jasper Spires. Hes the 18-year-old who was arrested in the bloody Independence Day killing and may have been high when he allegedly tried to rob Sutherland. And heres one more detail to factor into your equation: Spires is described in a police affidavit as 5 foot 5 inches tall and 125 pounds. So, not exactly a huge guy.
Suspect Jasper Spires; NoMa/Gallaudet Metro station; victim Kevin Joseph Sutherland. ((CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) Reuters, Evy Mages/For The Washington Post, Photo courtesy of Matt Grossman)
By Petula Dvorak July 9 at 6:00 AM
@petulad
What should they have done? What would you have done?
Theres a young man being brutally slaughtered punched, stabbed 30 or 40 times, stomped and repeatedly kicked in the head in a Red Line Metro car, in the middle of a holiday afternoon, in the nations capital, in front of almost a dozen witnesses.
Yet no one on the train confronted the guy who was killing 24-year-old Kevin Joseph Sutherland right before their eyes.
{Horrified passengers witnessed brutal July 4 slaying aboard Metro car}
This tragedy has become a litmus test online, where the Internet is full of heroes and the heroic ways they claim they would have reacted to Jasper Spires. Hes the 18-year-old who was arrested in the bloody Independence Day killing and may have been high when he allegedly tried to rob Sutherland. And heres one more detail to factor into your equation: Spires is described in a police affidavit as 5 foot 5 inches tall and 125 pounds. So, not exactly a huge guy.
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Passengers watched killing on Metro car. Should they have intervened? [View all]
mahatmakanejeeves
Jul 2015
OP
yes... i would... and i would expect some of those other dozen or so to help
ProdigalJunkMail
Jul 2015
#4
It's not a disturbing statement about our culture; its a phenomenon of being human.
Brickbat
Jul 2015
#5
We are a herd. When you're in a herd, it creates something called the diffusion of responsibility.
Brickbat
Jul 2015
#11
I'm sure that you'd reach right through the internet and grab the knife from his hand.
Orrex
Jul 2015
#19
Since his claims are contrary to my experience of reality, I require evidence to believe him.
Orrex
Jul 2015
#44
That's exactly what the bystander effect covers. Kitty Genovese was a prime example that
stevenleser
Jul 2015
#55
Yes, back in the 60s there was a case where an elderly man was murdered on the street while
jwirr
Jul 2015
#21
The attack took place between the Rhode Island Avenue and NoMa-Gallaudet U Metro stops.
mahatmakanejeeves
Jul 2015
#52
That's the right name, but the story is more complex than initially presented, I have heard.
mahatmakanejeeves
Jul 2015
#6
with a madman flailing away with a knife? I'd keep my distance. I value my carotid artery too much
geek tragedy
Jul 2015
#12
The linked article lists two of the witnesses as a 52 year old woman and her 76 year old father
Bluenorthwest
Jul 2015
#17
yes I did in fact ask you if you'd ever been on a subway because it seems your knowledge is limited
msanthrope
Jul 2015
#90
so there you are on the subway with a.22 sport gun that isn't made for self defense
msanthrope
Jul 2015
#114
And when you get within 5-10 feet in a shaky enclosed space, gun advantage is almost negated
stevenleser
Jul 2015
#115
I think she is asking because its often so shaky in a moving subway car you can't stand up without
stevenleser
Jul 2015
#92
"Almost always a gun is going to make the perp stop and run away if possible."
mahatmakanejeeves
Jul 2015
#139
Be 18+ yoa, get approved through "District of Columbia Self-Defense Spray Registration Form," and
Eleanors38
Jul 2015
#75
In DC watching is the most you can do since they've disarmed all but cops and criminals.
ileus
Jul 2015
#40
The truth. Once legally disarmed, does an atmosphere of impotence prevail....
Eleanors38
Jul 2015
#67
As someone who took public transportation in L.A. quite a bit, it's not anywhere that bad
AZ Progressive
Jul 2015
#71
There is cell service in the tunnels, but this part is above ground. NT
mahatmakanejeeves
Jul 2015
#57
It's probably hard to get a mob going when everyone just watched a man butcher another man
Rex
Jul 2015
#74
Then the suspect likely would have attacked whoever it was that swung the backpack.
LisaL
Jul 2015
#86
It's a classic ethical excercise - when does a bystander have responisbility to intervene?
haele
Jul 2015
#63
Connecticut congressman speaks out on slain American University graduate
mahatmakanejeeves
Jul 2015
#80
I intervened once in a mugging, because I thought the 20-30 people nearby would back me up.
bettyellen
Jul 2015
#77
I would have intervened, but I also worked as a bouncer in one of the roughest biker bars in
Ghost in the Machine
Jul 2015
#84
Not always... there were times that I would be a real a$$hole just because nobody could do anything
Ghost in the Machine
Jul 2015
#125
Thank you... I am so laid back now that I tell people that if I were any more laid back, I'd be like
Ghost in the Machine
Jul 2015
#127
I would hope if I was with several other healthy people, men and Women, that we would all
randys1
Jul 2015
#104
This would be a good time for people to read up on the "Good Samaritan" laws...
roamer65
Jul 2015
#105
Should they have intervened? Yes. Should they be condemned for not doing so? No. n/t
Gormy Cuss
Jul 2015
#121