Man dies after beating

[glorybebe]

A man has died in hospital after being viciously beaten in front of about a dozen witnesses on an Edmonton LRT train last Friday.

“It looked like just some little scrap between two people … but then it kind of escalated. One guy was, like, telling the other one ‘stop, stop, stop, stop,’” said Scott McLeod, who was in the train car when the attack began.....

....

The train stopped at Belvedere station, letting other passengers off, but the two men remained.

“The doors closed. The suspect was still assaulting the victim,” said Ron Gabruck, director of operational support for Edmonton Transit.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2012/12/31/edmonton-lrt-victim-dies.html

Seriously? The other passengers don't try to step in and stop the assault, and then they all leave the train and it keeps going with the beating still going on? As a Canadian, this embarasses me to no end.

[+ouija ouija]

You probably had to be there. To break up a fight between two fit guys you're going to need at least two fitter guys! And then they've got to restrain them until the police take over. I don't blame people for not involving themselves. A passenger told the driver what was going on and expected police to board at the next station, which was probably why the passengers got off.

[Coffey]

Shocked that nobody stopped it, I would have asked another guy or 2 on the train to help me.

Probably is most people are sheep and it's rare someone will step up sadly.

You probably had to be there. To break up a fight between two fit guys you're going to need at least two fitter guys! And then they've got to restrain them until the police take over. I don't blame people for not involving themselves. A passenger told the driver what was going on and expected police to board at the next station, which was probably why the passengers got off.

Well not completely, if you wait until one is down then you can restrain the other to stop severe damage.

[glorybebe]

Shocked that nobody stopped it, I would have asked another guy or 2 on the train to help me.

Probably is most people are sheep and it's rare someone will step up sadly.

Well not completely, if you wait until one is down then you can restrain the other to stop severe damage.

I agree. There should have been enough people there to do something! And he was using his fists, it wasn't as if he had a gun on the guy. Yes, the police were informed, but, the beating was going on and on, there was time to stop it.

[Rut Roh]

I completely understand why people do not engage in situations like this. It is a fight or flight response. Most people will unconsciously chose to disengage because of the violence and the lack of training that they have for dealing with violent situations. Fear, plain and simple. Not a bad thing, just the way it is. Survival instinct.

IMO, people do not "know" what they are going to do until the situation appears in front of them. Until it happens to you, it is all just speculation at what your true reaction will be. And with that even being said, if the exact same situation occured twice, two days in a row, your reaction might be different on both days. Too many psychological and situational variables at play to assume anything.

[Jinxdom]

As a Canadian Human Being, this embarasses me to no end.

Fixed

Here's the thing though. Not knowing why somebody is attacking somebody else is a good reason not to step in. Who knows maybe they deserved it?(Believe me some of the things I got beat for I deserved) Once the guy is on the ground though somebody should of stepped in. In a world where time is money though it hardly pays to get involved in something that can possibly hurt your bottom line. Being a hero rarely pays off. Basically a risk vs reward thing.

[glorybebe]

Fixed

Here's the thing though. Not knowing why somebody is attacking somebody else is a good reason not to step in. Who knows maybe they deserved it?(Believe me some of the things I got beat for I deserved) Once the guy is on the ground though somebody should of stepped in. In a world where time is money though it hardly pays to get involved in something that can possibly hurt your bottom line. Being a hero rarely pays off. Basically a risk vs reward thing.

If it was me and I found out that the guy died and I could have done something....I don't know how I could live with myself. I have stood up for what was right. Once, I had my life threatened because the perp didn't want to go back to jail. The charges were dropped, but I was doing what was right.

[Lava_Lady]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2012/12/31/edmonton-lrt-victim-dies.html

Seriously? The other passengers don't try to step in and stop the assault, and then they all leave the train and it keeps going with the beating still going on? As a Canadian, this embarasses me to no end.

This is heartbreaking but I think every country has had at least 1 such incident. We all know the United States has had our share of this type of thing. Unfortunately even in Hawaii.

[Jinxdom]

I'm the same way. Problem is that people who think like that are a minority. Couldn't be the fact that doing that whole hero bit is kind of suicidal (or at least that's what my friends say when I get involved then come out looking like John Macclane ).

The charges were dropped, but I was doing what was right.

Not surprising usually when doing the right thing you usually(sometimes people are pricks though) get off.

[glorybebe]

I'm the same way. Problem is that people who think like that are a minority. Couldn't be the fact that doing that whole hero bit is kind of suicidal (or at least that's what my friends say when I get involved then come out looking like John Macclane ).

Not surprising usually when doing the right thing you usually(sometimes people are pricks though) get off.

John MacClane, hey?

[Jinxdom]

Lol Bruce Willis in Die Hard he may technically win a fight but he is so broken, bruised, and bloody it should be considered a loss 9/10's out of time.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Jinxdom

[libstaK]

Nobody needed to get personally involved. Everyone has phones these days, someone could have called 911. Even more obvious, when they got off at the station they could have gone straight to the train driver. One person walking up there while others hold the door open and wave their arms would've done the trick, the drivers do check their mirror before they take off after all.

If it was a staffed station, same deal then go straight to security or the nearest rail staffer.

Why just let two people beat each other senseless without giving a kitkaboodle? It's inhumane.

Edited January 2, 2013 by libstaK

[Orcseeker]

You do hear about those stories about people who try break it up and end up seriously injured or in some cases killed. But if everyone comes to help then it usually does diffuse the situation. One person breaks that barrier that's keeping people from helping out and the rest do usually follow.

[glorybebe]

You do hear about those stories about people who try break it up and end up seriously injured or in some cases killed. But if everyone comes to help then it usually does diffuse the situation. One person breaks that barrier that's keeping people from helping out and the rest do usually follow.

Yes. And that is why I don't get how they didn't do something rather than get off the car and watch it keep going with the victim being beaten the whole time. What a horrible way to go.

[+ouija ouija]

Yes. And that is why I don't get how they didn't do something rather than get off the car and watch it keep going with the victim being beaten the whole time. What a horrible way to go.

My understanding from the article is that the passengers were expecting the police to get on as they got off, because the driver had been told what was going on, was watching it on cctv and had wired ahead to the next station for police help.

[glorybebe]

My understanding from the article is that the passengers were expecting the police to get on as they got off, because the driver had been told what was going on, was watching it on cctv and had wired ahead to the next station for police help.

Even so, I really don't understand why no one intervened. If we all waited for police or emergency services, how many people would be dead now from situations like this and accidents?

[+ouija ouija]

Even so, I really don't understand why no one intervened. If we all waited for police or emergency services, how many people would be dead now from situations like this and accidents?

*shrugs* I just repeat my original comment that you probably had to be there to understand why it happened as it did.

[glorybebe]

*shrugs* I just repeat my original comment that you probably had to be there to understand why it happened as it did.

I guess, but, I couldn't stand by and not do anything, even if it was to be on the phone with the cops and tell the guy I was.

[coolguy]

This happens to often around the world people turn there heads to this.this happen in new york city a few times.people should get the cops

[Walter White]

Unfortunately what happened was the bystander effect, everyone on the carriage was expecting everyone else on the carriage to do something about it, when no-one did anything, they interpreted the beating as not being serious enough to intervene.

The scariest aspect is that a lot of the passengers wouldn't have noticed it going on at all, it isn't polite to stare or watch other people, so in a packed carriage everyone's going to keep themselves to themselves and not look. The amount of times I've been in a pub and a fight breaks out between two people, every time I've heard someone scold another for watching.

Of course, this doesn't happen every time an event such as this takes place, but it happens enough for it to become a phenomenon.