Would you step in if you saw a violent crime being committed? Why or why not?

I wouldn't directly step in. I'm not trained to handle situations like this, and my interfering directly with the assault would probably cause more harm than good. But you can bet I would call 911.

The police ARE trained to handle situations like this, and it's their job to. And since I usually have my cell phone on me, I'd be pretty much morally obligated to make the call. This news story made me physically ill, by the way.

Both the story and the comments to the story (don't read them if you want your day to be a good one. ) Whatever happened to basic human decency?

I don't there is any excuse for not calling 911. Crowds of people watching is also different from one individual trying to break up a fight, and it's insane to me that no one looked around and said "hey, people, there are more of us than them! Let's fix this!"

I guess it's not too shocking though. Studies have actually shown that part of a group mentality is that we are less likely to be the first ones to do anything, including helping someone. Sad.

Personally, I would interfere if I felt like I could do so reasonably safely. I don't want to put myself into the hospital, but if I stood a decent chance in the fight, I would intervene. It's actually a little risky in my state to intervene if you didn't see the fight start, because the prosecutor is technically allowed to charge you if you hurt someone who looks like the aggressor but was actually the victim.

But, since it's not likely they would do that, I would use my best judgment and try to stop the aggressor from doing any further harm. I think we're all morally obligated to act to create the type of society we want to live in, and I want to live in a society where we don't allow those around us to be senselessly hurt by predators. I also agree that the cops can take their sweet time to show up, and many people have died waiting on them.

I know someone who was violently beaten, escaped long enough to call 911 while her friend was still being assaulted, and the cops rolled up 45 minutes later. They were less than a 5 minute drive from TWO police precincts, and less than a 15 minute drive from two more. Don't trust pigs.

Help each other.

I have a huge problem with people not saying anything when something bad is happening. Once, in my 20s, we were driving in Redondo beach, and on a corner me and two of my male friends saw a guy beating a girl by a lamp post. When I stopped at the stop sign, both guys literally jumped out of the car and chased the guy away.

Turns out, they were married. When the cops came they took our info, and we were asked to go to court. We spent the entire day there only to find out that they were married and the woman refused to press charges.

Back then, if the victim refused to press charges, then there were no charges filed. Now, the DA will pick up the case and prosecute anyway. It's a mad mad world.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

I would definetly step in...watcing someone else suffer and/or be in pain/getting hurt...not ok with me...I guess I would step up more because I have been in abusive situations...That gang won't necessarily know who called if you see it and step aside so you're not as seen...Depending on how close the police were....If it would take 20-30 minutes for them to get there I would step in even if it meant I got hurt...I am the type to take a fall for someone else...I would just be happy that person was now safe even if I ended up in the hospital. :).

I have done it before and would do it again, but not in every circumstance. I saved a kid from getting his eye poked out by a pencil during a fight when I was a teenager. I was a little older than the two kids that were fighting, and when one of them got the other in a headlock and pulled out a pencil to jab the other's eye, I jumped in and stopped him.

I took the pencil and let them resume fighting, but I admonished them to fight fair. Other times I let fights go on because I didn't want to get hurt myself, and I didn't want to go to jail. There were bigger weapons (than pencils), and more dangerous people involved.

Nobody was killed, but if 911 had been called a lot of people would have gone to jail, as there was illegal activity going on that we were all aware of. We sort of all put ourselves in a dangerous situation, knowing what we might be in for, and some of us got hurt, but everyone recovered and eventually we stopped being such knuckleheads.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.