Would you get involved?

[7starmantis]

This is actually Ninway J's idea, but I thought I would take the effort to post it.

I'm asking if you guys would get involved in a situation where you see someone being taken advantage of. Whether it be a woman being accosted, a young guy getting jumped, an older person being robbed. How mnay of you would risk yourself to get involved to help someone you do not know? I'm asking those who would not be getting involved as part of their job (i.e. Police, security, etc). Would you step in and try to stop a situation if you happened on one?

 

[Rich Parsons]

Done it before, and most likely will do it again.

It is not for everyone. People must weigh the risks and determine what is right for them and those are responsible for.

:asian:

 

[7starmantis]

I voted for the No doubt option, but I want to say that it does depend a bit on the situation, how I would become involved. I could never walk off and do nothing, hence the every time vote. I've gotten involved before and would do it again, but sometimes you have to think. That situation can quickly turn against you as any officer would tell you. I had to step in a couple times in college and after, and I would again. Most of what I steped into was a guy mistreating a woman. I did drive up on an attempted rape once in college, it was a bad situation, but she was rescued without too much harm.

The funniest one was a bunch of kids probably around 10 or 12 years old. They were ganging up on this one boy and he was doing to whole fetus position defense. I just yelled, scared them a bit and helped the kid up. They acted like they were going to jump me, but they didn't. That would have been a great headline: College Student Beats up 10 yr old Gang.

7sm

 

[markulous]

If I don't know the whole story then usually not unless its blatently obvious that an innoncent person is being taken advantage of. If I see two guys beating up one guy I usually won't step in. Who knows why they are fighting? That one guy getting jumped could have just attacked one of their mothers. Just because someone or some people have an advantage there is no reason to jump in and take it away from them. But If I see a little kid being grabbed by 2 masked men or an old woman getting her purse taken then yeah I am gonna step in.

 

[theletch1]

My vote was that it depends on the situation. As with anything in the human drama there are always variables to be taken into consideration but if the conditions meet my personal requirements I could not look at myself in the mirror if I knew I could have helped and walked away.

 

[dearnis.com]

didn't vote since I get involved for a living.... but marlulous already hit the salient points....if you just jump in you may be jumping on the wrong side.

 

[7starmantis]

Thats very true, thats why sometimes getting involved mean just getting the right people there to take control of the situation.
The poll is for who would physically get involved, but it is worth noting that "getting involved" can also mean getting help as well.

7sm

 

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by dearnis.com
didn't vote since I get involved for a living.... but marlulous already hit the salient points....if you just jump in you may be jumping on the wrong side.

But if your off duty, do you get involved then?

7sm

 

[Shinzu]

not to be the bad person, but i voted no.

i'm not sure what they would be fighting about and by putting myself in the middle i just might end up getting involved with something i do not need.

things are too crazy in the world today that someone could just jump in like the old days and be the good neighbor.

if it involved a friend of mine and i was there, if i was in danger... then that is different.

i have my family to consider also. i need to be there for them too. there are way too many risks to get involved with personal disputes these days. and who is to say that i would be defending the right person?

what if the person getting the beat down was someone who was sexually aggressive tword another persons sister, and the two guys were teaching him a lesson?

without the facts, you could actually be doing an injustice while your intentions might still be just.

 

[satans.barber]

I put depends on the situation. Most of the time yes, but if, say, I was looking after small children at the time, you can't just leave them to go join in a fight.

Ordinarily though yes, I would help, if I was sure of the circumstances.

Ian.

 

[dearnis.com]

But if your off duty, do you get involved then?

Fair question. Still not voting so as not to skew results, but to answer the question...

It all depends. If I am off duty but driving my work car (I have the thing 24/7, am on call, etc.) then I am not really off duty and will act accordingly.

If I am in my jurisdiction, and it is a situation that warrants intervention, and I am in a position to do something appropriate then yes. (and as noted above, that might be just calling for help.)
If I have been drinking then no, not unless someone is at risk for really serious harm. The liability to me has gone up too high if I act.
If I am out of my jurisdiction....depends on where I am and what the circumstances are.
To give some examples; bar fight...not getting involved. I will be a good witness when/if I am needed. Traffic crash; If I can get to it I will help out. Convenience store robbery; depends on what I can do safely.

 

[someguy]

Depends on the situation for me. If its 50 guys with ak-47... no.
If I know whats happening I might if I have a rasonable chance of not being hurt to a major extent. Of course I may try to beak it up before it fight.

 

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by Shinzu
what if the person getting the beat down was someone who was sexually aggressive tword another persons sister, and the two guys were teaching him a lesson?

Well, in my books thats still wrong. Taking the law into your own hands is not the way to "teach a lesson". But I hear your point of not knowing who to defend. Beating someone down though, I don't see any real justification for it at all.

7sm

 

[streetwise]

Smart answer is probably no, but I have a nice knife scar across my lat to remind me that my answer is usually yes. Way back when i had just got out of the Army, some guy was beating this women on my front lawn. He had knocked her down, was sitting on her, holding her hair with one hand and punching her face with the other, blood was everywhere. I yelled at my wife to call 911, ran out, we started fighting, she got up and tried to stab me in the back with a Buck knife. Something told me to turn, so all I got was a slash. The cops arrived to find me dancing around to try and avoid both of the morons, they said it looked like we were playing tag, except for the blood.

 

[7starmantis]

Yeah, thats what I mean it can turn against you quickly. Thats so low to me, to play on someones niceness (is that a word?) trying to help you.

7sm

 

[dearnis.com]

Domestic violence is a complex phenomenon; stories like this are very common. If you step in all of the rage of both parties may be directed at you....

 

[Black Bear]

It depends. If I thought I could, I may sometimes get involved in a way that minimizes the risk of harm to myself. It is unfortunate that when it's a guy-on-girl assault, ppl assume it's a "domestic situation" and stay out.

It's for this reason that when I teach wsd, I instruct the women to yell "WHO ARE YOU???" in the rare event that they're being assaulted in a public place--even if it IS their partner.

 

[KanoLives]

I voted it depends on the situation. I've broken up fights and stopped a couple before they happened, but it was mostly because I was affiliated with someone involved. Never really been in a situation that warranted my intervention (with people I didn't know).

Bottom line for me is that it really depends on the situation. Cuz ya just don't know. To just jump right in......I guess it depends what I had observed up to that point.

 

[MJS]

Depends. Too many times you see someone going to the victims defense and next thing you know, the victim is beating on you also. Perfect example of this is a cop going to a domestic. They try to arrest the guy and the woman who was getting beat, all of a sudden changes her mind and doesnt want her husband/bf to get arrested.

I think the first thing I'd do is call the police. Its their job to keep the peace and thats what they get paid to do. Getting an accurate description of whats happening, any weapons, clothing desc. etc. IMO are some of the most important things you can do.

Mike

 

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by MJS
Depends. Too many times you see someone going to the victims defense and next thing you know, the victim is beating on you also. Perfect example of this is a cop going to a domestic. They try to arrest the guy and the woman who was getting beat, all of a sudden changes her mind and doesnt want her husband/bf to get arrested.

I think the first thing I'd do is call the police. Its their job to keep the peace and thats what they get paid to do. Getting an accurate description of whats happening, any weapons, clothing desc. etc. IMO are some of the most important things you can do.

Mike

Thats a very good post. However, there are situations when someone may get seriously injured, then I would have to get involved. Getting all the information is a must, but if it starts to move downhill quickly and the cops aren't there, in order to sleep at night, I would have to get involved in some way. That said, there are many ways to get involved. Driving my car in the middle of them might do the trick too.

One thing that gets me, and is what has happened most of the ones I've stepped in. That is when a guy hits a girl. Call me old fashioned, sexist, or whatever you may, but if I see a guy hit a woman, I'm involved allready. I can't allow myself to pass that by without at least getting verbally involved. You have to be smart about the way you get involved, but I will get involved everytime I see it. Maybe one day someone will use that to attack me, but that will not stop me, I will allways get involved in that scenario.

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