To think that walking past someone lying on the ground, bleeding from a head injury is beyond appalling

[ElieRM]

Live in a city with a large racecourse. On race days, it is not unusual to see people who may have taken a drink.
Was running by the river, and up ahead of me I could see someone lying on the floor. As people were WALKING PAST this individual, I assumed it was just kids playing. At least 5/6 people walked past. As I approached, I saw someone stop and kneel down.
When I got there, there was a man lying on the floor, bleeding profusely from his head. The ground was literally sodden with blood. Fortunately, the man kneeling beside him was first aid trained, and by this point someone else had stopped and was on the phone to an ambulance. I stopped and asked if there was anything I could do; the first aider asked if I had anything to make a compress to stem the bleeding. I didn't, as in just joggers and tee.
There was quite a crowd by this point, including a man holding a newspaper. I asked him if we could borrown the newpaper to place under the man's head- not ideal, but better than nothing. He tutted loudly, rolled his eyes and begrudgingly handed it over.
The first aider assured me there was nothing I could do, so I headed home. But have been thinking.
Yes, the injured man was drunk (hence falling over) but he was not abusive at all, and was obviously in no posistion to be physically violent, which is the obvious reason for not stopping to help. And I had seen several people walk past before the first aider stopped. It was harldy like you could miss the fact he was hurt; there was an enormous puddle of blood.
I would be willing to bet at least hlaf the people that had walked past him would ahve had phones. So even if you didn't want to get involved, surely they could've stopped and rang an ambulance?
What happened to the idea of the kindness of strangers? Or even basic human compassion? Sorry for inarticulate post, just cross.

[whooosh]

Shocking and sad.....

[ThePinkOne]

That's shocking.

[Thunderduck]

YANBU.That's awful.

[Pandoraneedsbugs]

A modern day good samaritan story!

I would have stopped and helped without question
I always get anxious in situations like this (even more so if the injured person is agitated!) but I always always stop to help

Shocking that others cant be bothered

[Tinfoil]

YANBU.

[frakkinpannikinAGRIPPA]

YANBU. Glad a Good Samaritan stopped.

[Mumcentreplus]

Very sad..if I see something I always help..even if it's just calling emergency services..can't understand people who see something like that and walk away..

[HeadFairy]

Sadly I'm not surprised.... glad you stopped and at least asked if you can help. The only thing that stops me really disliking those that didn't stop is that perhaps their excuse was that they're very squeamish or something like that.

[waitingforbedtime]

This kind of thing makes me sooooo mad. How would those passers by feel if it was their husband/brother / son etc??

When we were at Uni a friend and I broke up a fight (well, a group of lads kicking in another lad) which perhaps was stupid and I might not do now Im a mum but even afterwards no-one came forward to help us whilst we put him in recovery position /called ambulance etc, he was pretty badly injured. Thing is though his FRIENDS emerged from the watching crowd just as the aumbulance showed up - couldve given them aan injury actually I was sooooo shocked, they just hadnt helped their own mate!

[cheesesarnie]

very sad.i agree all they had to do was phone an ambulance even if they didnt want to get involved,i cant understand why anybody wouldnt.

[Pandoraneedsbugs]

Thats true headfairy - but even a squeamish anxious person like myself would stop talk to the person and call for an ambulance

To just walk on by shows a complete lack of compassion!
I run to catch up with old ladies who have dropped their walking sticks

[OrangeFish]

Sadly, I'm not surprised. I'm training in first aid and I have noticed the same sort of respone (why on Earth it is me who has to help this drunk? why on Earth do I have to be there when this guy had a heart atack) from the persons I received the training from . However, to their credit, they roll their eyes but did what they were meant to do.

[LadyoftheBathtub]

I once stopped to help a man who was lying unconscious across a pavement in a busy street at about 7pm (not bleeding but obviously seriously unwell). People were stepping over him, I was with friends and even they were a bit "oh do we have to stop?" and made me feel like a soppy cow! I would have left him if he was lying on a park bench but he had obviously collapsed suddenly on the pavement.

I called an ambulance and before it arrived a passing nurse stopped and attended to him as well. She was sooooo cynical saying "yes he's obviously on something, see it all the time, that's all it is love you didn't need to bother" etc.

I thought a) even if he is pissed or a drug addict, does that mean he doesn't deserve any help, even if he's dying? and b) anyway, you can't make that assumption - he could be having a brain haemorrhage, stroke or heart attack or a sudden allergic reaction or all kinds of things. Imagine your loved one having having something like that and people ignoring him because they assumed he was pissed.

[OrangeFish]

And from my last post, anybody can deduct that I may have been trained in first aid, but there's still a lot to do in terms of grammar...

[ElieRM]

Dogshitsonthedailymail- I did watch that programme and it made me feel sick. Because, if something happened to my DD when she was out alone and no one stopped to help her I'd be devastated.
Personally, had I been wearing my hoody round the waist I would've given it. Not because I'm some sort of saint, but because I'd rather see a top ruined then watch someone slip into unconsciousness because they were bleeding so badly.
Also, don't know if its where I live, but saw an elderly man fall in town a few weeks ago. Myself and a young girl went to help him up, but didn't manage to get there before someone had actually stepped over him.

[ChookKeeper]

I always stop to help - my dad suffered from kidney stones for years and there were quite a few times when I was a young child that he would suddenly be gripped by renal colic, vomit and collapse, yet nearly every time people would walk past tutting about the state of the 'drunk' on the floor.

It's not my place to judge anyone and I would never forgive myself if I walked past and left someone who needed help - for whatever reason.

[JackBauer]

I was once talking to 2 boys at about 4am at a taxi rank when a man came up and stabbed them both and ran off. I was on my own then, 2 blokes lying on ground unconscious, aged 19, shitting myself. I called ambulance and about 2 minutes later the police van turned up having heard the call.
Within seconds the street filled with 'witnesses' including 2 medical students and a special police constable blokey off duty, all of whom had seen what had happened from inside the restaurants, and all of whom had seen me, covered in blood, trying to help these 2 blokes who were bleeding badly, and not one had come to help me.

So no, YANBU, but I am afraid I am not shocked in the slightest.

[Wonderstuff]

So sad, I always think if I walk past then what will happen? My nan collapsed in London a few months ago and it was ages before anyone stopped. I'm so grateful for the woman who did.

I think people wait and assume someone else will take over. We as a society have become cold.

[smokinaces]

I think the whole mentality of people who can just carry on trying to ignore things like this is awful.

When I was 8m pregnant with DS1 I was joining the motorway when I saw a car in a hedge with a distressed man stuck in it and a lorry that had obviously hit him. I immediately pulled onto the hard shoulder and went to help - Lorry driver was in shock and couldnt remember the emergency number (was foreign, didnt think 112 worked) and guy in the car was in shock. I rang ambulance, waited for them & police, spoke to guy's wife to direct her to hospital - all whilst NO ONE else helped. I was walking up and down the hard shoulder at 8m pregnant with a car crash round me and not a single person stopped to help.

The paramedics had a bit of a funny turn when they saw me, thinking I'd been involved in it all, and were quite relived I wasnt about to go into labour though :-)

[GirlsAreLoud]

.

[Wonderstuff]

smokinaces I saw one of those programmes about the air ambulance last week, they were called out to someone who had veered off the A303 on a bank holiday, the road was very busy, someone must have seen her go off the road, but not one person had reported it, a passing police car had noticed the skid marks and investigated, the driver was unconscious and they had absolutly no idea how long she had been sat in her car since the accident.

[pjmama]

Doesn't a diabetic in trouble display very similar behaviour to someone who is drunk? Very dangerous to make assumptions - I'd always ask if they're okay and then oblige gladly if told to piss off! Everyone these days seems to assume that someone else has made the call, or just don't give a toss. Very sad.

[seaturtle]

The guy with the newspaper leaves me in disbelief.

I phoned the ambulance once, when I noticed someone lying on the pavement on our main street across the road. He was lying across the pavement, and I stopped and watched everyone step around him. No one stopped. Maybe he was drunk or on drugs. We get a lot of those in our town. But he's still a human being. I don't know if he was. He was unresponsive and I just waited for the ambulance to turn up and then left them to it. And while I waited, still no one stopped or seemed to care. Which I found a bit worrying.