Hit and Run Caught On Tape

Warning: Actual footage of event… not gory, but I wouldn’t show to my young kids if I had any…

This is a really sad thing to have captured on tape. Not because it was captured, but because it happened. This fellow was crossing the street when two cars came across the double yellow line to illegally pass another car. When they did, the second car hits the pedestrian and does not stop. They didn’t just “knick” the guy in the leg or anything. He went over the front right corner of the car. The driver most certainly noticed this…

Since the video has been released, there has been a lot of attention put in how the bystanders reacted, or didn’t react, depending on your view of the situation. I have seen some really nasty remarks about how poorly the bystanders dealt with the situation, some remarks were even racially fueled. The main criticism I have seen is that no one helped the man and instead stood around and watched.

So here’s my thoughts…

Some follow up comments have confirmed that the MOST important action, calling the police, was done by at least four people within that first minute. So it’s not like everyone just stood and watched with no reaction whatsoever. The second reaction, to some, might have been to remove the victim from any more danger. This would have been a BAD idea, the guy was already in a bad way and he might have come out worse (dead) if someone, not knowing what they were doing, moved him. The first police car showed up within 1 minute of the incident, not a lot of time for anyone to grab hold of the situation and take control of it.

It’s not all good though… Not only did the offending car keep going, one stopped, probably looked, but instead of stopping traffic with their car, they pulled back into the traffic flow and went on their merry way. More cars passed the victim within that minute also. Seeing as the guy was in the middle of the street, I would think one of them would have thought to stop and hold traffic until things were more under control. The bystanders didn’t really take the wheel and stop traffic, which again, I would have thought someone would have at least attempted to stop traffic until the authorities arrived, but what this video doesn’t show is what each person was experiencing at that very moment. Sure, the dude on the scooter, doing a little circle to get a better view, was uncalled for and there was a report that someone took a picture with a camera phone and kept walking, but in general, the police were called and no one moved him. Would it have been better had someone stopped traffic? Yeah, but I would hardly pull out the racist card for not stopping traffic. Unfortunately there are some people that will never stop and help, only check it out and move on. It’s sad, but it’s not new, why do you think we all get stuck in traffic on the highway when there is even the slightest fender bender on the side of the road? Anyway, to those of you that scream outrage, be mad a the right people… namely the a-hole that hit the guy and didn’t stop. The rest of the people were caught in the moment of something terrible and some of them got the cops there within a minute.