Have you ever witnessed a serious crime and if so what did you do?

If you did nothing in this day and age you probably aren't alone . Please stay with only serious crimes and not shoplifting or something similar. Asked by HaveLeftAskville 51 months ago Similar questions: witnessed crime Business > Retail.

When I was 19 I witnessed a bank robbery where a man was killed inside the bank. I was at the outside, drive up teller window of the bank to make a deposit when a car drove up blocking my car. 4 armed men in masks jumped out of the car and ran into the bank.

One remained in the car and he held a gun on everyone outside. I heard yelling and gun shots inside the bank. I locked my car, memorized the liscence plate number of the getaway car, stuffed my money under a seat keeping only the checks I had to deposit visible, and crawled down to the floor of my little Volkswagen Beetle.

I waited trembling on the floor until I heard the bank robbers leave. Then I waited some more. When I sat up, it seemed to me that I sat there for a very long time and nothing happened.

I was afraid to get out of the car and eventually I drove away and went on to my college class. Once there I told my professor what happened. I think I was in shock up to that point because it hadn't hit me.

He grabbed me by my arms and shook me asking if I was okay. It was only then that I understood the severity of what had happened. He and several students grilled me with questions for what seemed like an hour.

Then I left and went home. I told my parents what had happened and they thought I should call the police. I felt terrible that I had left the scene of a crime.

The police came and questioned me and then the FBI came and questioned me. Later, the police came back to ask if the FBI had asked anything that they had forgotten to ask. I thought that was funny.

All but one of the robbers was caught. I was asked to testify because I had written down the liscence plate number of the getaway car. It seemed I was the only one who could or would testify as to the link between the car, the robbers, and the bank.

People told me I should be scared to testify but it never crossed my mind not to. The first trial ended in mistrial because two jurors were fighting with each other. The second trial ended with a conviction.

After testifying the second time, a man approached me outside the courtroom. He told me that he was the brother of the man who died inside the bank and he thanked me for my testimony. It felt good.

I have never been sorry that I had the courage to step up and testify. -layyla-'s Recommendations The Client (Limited Edition) Amazon List Price: $200.00 Used from: $0.01 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 300 reviews) I've always liked this book about being a witness to a crime.

Shotgun shooting, moved people in waiting room to locked office. I was bookkeeper in mental health clinic when a patron in the vestibule received a shotgun blast to the back of the head. I saw it but I didn't SEE it.

Glass walls and door shattered, a woman dropped to the floor. Here's the wierd part: I saw no blood. I could not hear anything.

Time and perception slowed to a snail's pace. While the receptionist at the desk kept repeating 'someone should call 911' holding phone in her hands, I shepherded the people in the waiting room to a locked room with no windows, down the hall. I have oftened wondered what shock response kept us all in a state of slow time.It was like being underwater.

To this day, I never found out who pulled themselves together enough to call 911. The medical director (M.D., PhD.) was on site, yet, it was nearly 3 minutes before I told him what had happened. As soon as he ran to the victim, it was like a rubber band snapped us all out of it.

I locked doors, went to a bathroom with no lock, where a co-worker happened to be when the shot was fired. I walked her back to the secure area and we waited for the cops. Nothing would have kept the shooter from coming in.

Turns out he drove off, spent the rest of the evening and night drivng around, sometimes talking on the phone to the police until he got caught. The glass got replaced, and we all patted ourselves on the back for getting lucky. A few months later, a man opened fire in the emergency room of the hospital across the street, killed a few people.

Now nobody has glass-walled vestibules, and the ER has a metal detector with a cop on duty to examine you & your stuff when you come into the hospital. The mental health center is a parking lot. I've seen car and motorcycle wrecks, gunshot wounds, drug overdoses since then.

I carry first aid and blankets in my car now. I am certified on CPR. If I see a problem, I stop to help, even if its just to hold a t-shirt over the wound until the medics show up.

I hope I never have to wonder if I did enough ever again..

It still seems like something from out of a movie, that I will never forget. Yes, I was working at this chicken farm one summer back in 1975 and I watched this old man feed his wife to a bunch of alligators, it was a pit of gators that were huge because of the fact that they were feed the chickens that were not good egg layers. This man and his wife watched over the farm, they were crazy people, something out of the backwoods of florida, not real educated, missing teeth, real true white trash rednecks from hell living in a broke down trailer on this chicken farm, they were always drinking beer ,screaming and fighting.

I happend to be going down to the gator pit to throw in 5 hens that were going to die because of the heat, as I was walking towards the water hole I heard her screaming at him not to push her in the hole, so I quickly hid in the bushes so he would not see me, all I could do was watch in horror as she was dragged under and the gatores were thrashing around, I quickly took off so he would not see me. The next day when I went to work I asked one of the other people that worked there if they had seen her around and they said that the old man said she left him for another man, and that he saw her take off on a motercycle, I was so shocked, I went down to the pit later that day, I wanted to see if her body was there I quess, as I looked around I could not see one bit of evidence, the gators took care of that, as I was leaving the pit the old man was coming down the path and saw me, I just told him that I threw some chicken in the hole, he had a pitch fork in his hand. I just took off and never said a word.It all just happend so fast, I was young and didn't really know what to do.

I guess I was afraid, but I will never forget that as long I live.

Luckily never had to test that really tough moral question Luckily for me, I have never witnessed a real crime. The question of whether to interfere at all when you are witnessing such an occurrence is a tough one. On the one hand, can we really blame those who are too afraid to act and exacerbate a situation that is risky enough?

On the other, what about our obligation to help fellow man and would we want the help of others in such situations? This is one question I really don't have any real answer.

1 Serious crimes should be reported to the authorities. It's a pain to be a witness, but the time may come when you are a victim and you may need a witness to come forward. Many cases get dismissed for lack of admissible evidence and the evidence you would provide may mean the difference between a bad actor being taken off the street or continuing to victimize the community.As far as not serious crimes are concerned, Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion.

Just recently, a local man was held in jail on domestic violence charges while the authorities were able to put together murder charges against him, so even less serious charges can be important. Even shoplifting drives up the cost of shopping for the rest of us. Just a few thoughts.

Serious crimes should be reported to the authorities. It's a pain to be a witness, but the time may come when you are a victim and you may need a witness to come forward. Many cases get dismissed for lack of admissible evidence and the evidence you would provide may mean the difference between a bad actor being taken off the street or continuing to victimize the community.As far as not serious crimes are concerned, Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion.

Just recently, a local man was held in jail on domestic violence charges while the authorities were able to put together murder charges against him, so even less serious charges can be important. Even shoplifting drives up the cost of shopping for the rest of us. Just a few thoughts.

" "If you will be given 24 hours to do a crime, and be able to get away with it, what crime would you do and why?" "Crime and Punishment.

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.