woman attacked on subway platform, workers basically do nothing

I can't argue her logic, it just struck me weird. I had a similar thing happen to me when I was a child and I've never forgiven the person and never will. I have forgiven other people who were powerless to stop it though.

Maybe that vast emptiness in that token booth clerk's face was that powerless feeling. Maybe they knew that as much as they may have wanted to help, they couldn't do anything more than press a button.

I think the point is, we don't know. None of us know because none of us were any of the involved parties. We can all say what we would do in that situation and actually believe what we're saying is true, but we don't know for certain. I think we've probably all been witness to something in our lives that we felt, after the fact, we could have stopped or prevented.

I'd like Today to track down those two workers, and even if it's an anonymous thing find out what went through their heads.

 

guy didn't even have to see the cops. hears 'em, snaps back into reality and splits. so, yeah, maybe some action on someone's part actually helps here. and then you've got the guy that pulls his train in, sees whats happening, and leaves the station. maybe if he sits there, with whoever is in that train, staring at this guy, he runs.

they did push their buttons, though.

 

I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. But as Mr. Miyagi used to say "One to one problem, yes. FIVE to one problem, too much ask anyone."

I was told later that it was gang-related, either an initiation or retaliation. Maybe that's why the guy was so low-key about it after the fact.

 

Its interesting that the people who called the cops (and did nothing else) will catch so much more crap than the actual rapists themselves.

I don't know what I'd do in that situation. But I don't want my spouse, or my father (if I was a young child) to play Batman in the subway, only to never return home again because he was killed by some scumbag rapist.

 

OK, we've established that the subway workers didn't do enough to stop the attack. We've also established that certain posters on this board would have done more, based on the scenarios they visualized in their minds. I'd like to offer them a hearty congratulations for their fantastical moral superiority.

 

Uh, I suspect the rapists will end up in Attica.
I wouldn't be too concerned.

 

I'd be Clint Eastwood. Y'all can be the sniveling townsfolk.

 

Gotta love the cigarette in the shot. Think that's a Camel? Or Lucky Strike? Or maybe he was rolling his own back then.

 

If only SportsJournalists.com were around in the 1930's. There'd have been no Holocaust.

 

from another story ...

and after seeing some of what was in the lawsuit, at least it had some merit and wasn't just going after the two guys. seems to me that the mta folks should look at changing some things voluntarily after this, anyway.

 

If this leads to the MTA installing a better system, like loud, blaring alarms when police response has been requested, that would be great. Throwing the two workers under the (train) for not doing more than they're instructed, though, is a bit harsh, IMHO.

Sadly, though, this story and many others we've seen over the last year or so (the guy beheading someone in a bus while people just watched) is a reflection of our society becoming more and more distant from their neighbor. I'm sure there are plenty here that could break out the old "You know, back in my day..." stories about heroism and good Samaritan acts. Seems like those stories are either not being reported anymore, or just not happening as frequently.