to feel a bit naffed off at the people who did nothing

[Loveneverfails]

Basically,

there is only one shop in the place I live.

A property is being renovated just along from it.

On the way home today, we spotted an old man lying on the pavement (about 2pm), in between the shop and property.

His zimmer was beside him. It was clear he was in pain and the zimmer was broken.

We stopped the car and got out.

Clearly the old boy had had a tipple but equally clearly his zimmer was broken (one wheel sheered off and no where to be seen). He was in a dreadful state, smelly, dirty, on the pavement. Calm but still, on the pavement! Could say his name and where he lived and that he was just out of hospital with a broken hip.

Builders came out and said - we offered to get him up an hour ago he said no. They told me the local shop keep selling him booze when he toddles along for it.

People were walking past him and us and not saying a word ?!

AIBU to think he is a human being, was clearly in pain, was filthy and smelly (builders commented on it) and people should not be just walking on by . REALLY? they left him there because he didn't want help - could they not have called an ambulance?

We got an ambulance.

He was taken away. I think his hip may be broken again :(

We also arranged local district nurse to bring him a zimmer if he doesnt get one given to him in the hosp, and spoke with his GP.

Took about two hours of our time but I will sleep tonight!

I was also sad cos the builders were laughing taking pics of him on the pavement

• A home birth not Z home birth

I'd call ssd op and see if they can do anything to help. They probably can't, but you can try.

I got attacked one night late in town. A women started on me and her boyfriend knocked me over and kicked me in the head. A couple saw this happen, the woman stayed with me and called an ambulance. Her husband followed the attackers at a distance and called the police. He kept trailing them, still talking to the police, until they got there and arrested them.

For my part, I always stop for people if they need me. Recently I intervened on an older lady being mugged in the street. With a bit of team work from other people passing by, an ambulance was called, the lady put into recovery and reassurance given, the perpetrator was caught and brought back to the scene ready for tbe police to arrest him. Aside from this I have stopped on numerous occasions to help people who have fallen and injured themselves, been in car accidents and so on. (I seem to live in a busy place and be in the wrong (or right) place) a lot of the time.

You treat others how you want yourself and your family to be treated. Its not an option to not stop and help really. Not if you want to live in a society where people help each other out. I'd even stop for you Zippy. Not sure you deserve that mind, bearing in mind you probably wouldn't stop for me. Thats a bit sad really isn't it. If you want to live in a decent caring world then you really should do your bit to help make that happen. The ripple in the pond effect and all that....

This happened to me at about 30 weeks pregnant. I was carrying toddler down some stone steps in a park when I slipped and fell. Dropped him and he too fell all the way to the bottom, hitting his head. At the bottom I was lying on the ground with a badly sprained ankle and a screaming child that I couldn't reach without crawling.

A picnic table of middle aged women was about 6 feet away. They looked round as I fell, then looked awkward and went back to their conversation. I shouted 'help' as I literally couldn't get up, and they ignored me. I honestly wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it.

After a few minutes a man came past who did help us, carried and entertained toddler and helped me to a bench. He also got me an ice pack from a shop.

I went up to the table of cunts zippey were you there? once I was a bit better and asked what their fucking problem was that they could watch a pregnant lady carrying a child fall down stairs and do nothing. They just apologised awkwardly. It was the strangest thing, but I wonder how long they would have left us there.

Zippy what a very nasty attitude. Nothing wrong with calling an ambulance! He clearly needed help, he cannot lie there all day can he! Zippy sums up what is wrong with society today!

As for tge builders taking photos, op did you give them a bollocking! Shocking behaviour, what if that were their grandad or dad!

Good on you op well done

The man in this situation is clearly a drunk, his state of attire and personal hygiene, the fact he is known locally for drinking. He was offered help and he didn't want it.

Perhaps everyone around him had seen it all before.

I know from my own experience that not all drunks are happy to be helped. Some people are happy to risk their own safety to help others but perhaps I am a coward. I also really really have to be as far away as possible from any drunks. They make my skin crawl. I become hyper vigilant and on red alert.

That said, I have helped cyclists who have come off their bikes, one middle-aged guy who completely stacked it in front of me onto the pavement and was a bit shocked and one lady who had a nose bleed.

I just can't do drunks, I just can't.

Loveneverfails, what about giving social services a ring, or Help the Aged? This chap needs some help: they could help with furnishings & get someone in to help on a daily basis, have meals delivered etc.
This man isn't in a good place at the moment, but luckily for him, you live across the road

I have on a few occasions stopped to call ambulances when I have seen something happen; I used to do a job which meant I was on the road a lot, so could easily be first on the scene of an accident. I agree that stopping to call emergency services is something anyone can do, especially as most of us have mobile phones these days.

But you do have to be careful to protect yourself in these situations, especially if you don't see the accident actually happen - it's not unheard of for clever thieves to play injured, and have accomplices waiting just out of sight to rob your car, wallet etc, while your guard is down. To say nothing of parking attendants.

People are afraid, unsure what to do, think that someone else will stop.

I would have stopped but i am an ex police officer so am confident nough that i can handle situations like that.

Captain when he is lying on the ground he is vulnerable, plus he probably broke his hip,again, so needed medical help. Do you think he will miraculously get up, no! A lot of people refused medical help, not because they are drunk because of pride. What does it take to call 999 and let the medical experts assess him. Btw many people who have serious medical conditions can often present as being drunk! So you leave them! On it be your head!

Sorry have only read first few pages but I would report the builders to their company. They were disgraceful.

When I was 19 and had just moved to a city I remember being when I saw people stepping over a man lying on the pavement. I went over and he was clearly drunk and stank of piss but he was actually saying "help". I sat him up and tried to get some sense out of him, he was unable to stand. I called an ambulance and while I was waiting a lovely bloke stopped his car and got out to see if everything was ok but nobody else even gave a shit!
When the ambulance arrived they told me "oh it's xxx, he's one of our regulars", they said he got drunk in the local pub regularly and then couldn't get himself home so they told me they were just dropping him back at his house!
I suppose he was well known for being a drunk and that's why nobody helped but he was in a right state! I could never leave someone on a pavement like that no matter how often they did it.

I was in a serious car accident last year, both the other driver involved and I were trapped in our cars and seriously injured - the man who eventually helped us and called the police and ambulances was not the first person on the scene. He was disgusted to see people just watching the accident, trying the drive around it or taking photos on their phones.
Nobody else did anything - I am eternally grateful to that man, just for talking to me and reassuring me. The other people are assholes.

You don't get someone who is lying on the ground help in the hope you will suddenly turn their whole life around. You do it in that moment because they need help at that point. It takes nothing to call 101.

Also, just because someone is drunk it doesn't mean they are an alcoholic.

My friend had her drinks spiked in a club, wandered off and ended up sleeping in the gutter. Woke up with people walking over her. Thank god nothing bad happened to her.

aeroflotgirl, he hadn't broken his hip had he, I am not sure you can lay on the floor calmly with a broken hip. And yes he was a drunk because he was well known for getting booze from the local shop. He didn't seem to be in distress so yeah let him get on with it. Let him sober up on the pavement and think, 'maybe I need to stop drinking.' If you pick every drunk up off the floor all the time and never let them hit rock bottom they never recover.

Still not going to help one more drunk in my life, sorry. I've had to get my mother off the floor many a time when she had fallen over, only for her to get physically abusive. She quite liked it on the floor in the middle of the street apparently, i guess once the vodka had hit her properly laying on the floor stopped the world spinning. When the scenario mentioned in this OP is played out regularly in your life you start to get pretty desensitised and lose all sympathy for the drunks.

The man probably needed a taxi to A&E if they would take him, or a call to non-emergency police line. The ambulance dropped him off in the evening once he'd sobered up probably so they could use the bed for someone actually ill. I don't think people who fall over drunk and who have not broken anything, who refuse assistance, deserve to steal an ambulance from someone who may actually be in more of a need of it than them.

I suppose I might call the non-emergency police line if I had not known of this man's alcoholism from the locals, suspecting him to be drunk on the floor in the street.

....and I am staggered that anyone could watch a pregnant lady and her toddler fall down stone steps and do nothing to help them.
There has to be something really amiss with someone to witness that and not feel an instinctive need to help.

It was absolutely bizarre.
After the man and another passer by helped me they did have the good grace to look embarrassed, and when I had a bit of a go at them one muttered something about 'last time I helped someone they disnt appreciate it so I thought I'd better leave well alone' but it was truly shocking. We were BOTH injured and I was clearly pregnant.

My mums into psychology, she said its to do with them being in a group and because no one else in the group got up, it's like they were each silently validating the others' decision to just leave me there.

Shocking though whatever the reason.

I would have called him an ambulance from a distance. I would not risk engaging with a drunk stranger. There are too many risks.

My brother was thrown from a car, broke his back and sprawled on the pavement. 10 people went past before 1 called an ambulance. I do think people are scared rather than inherently wicked. Plenty of times, people feign injury or illness only to rob or assault the Good Samaritan.

If you pick every drunk up off the floor all the time and never let them hit rock bottom they never recover.

Similarly, if you leave a drunk on the floor with injuries bad enough, they may die, which would really hamper their recovery. I understand that you have had a terrible time with your mother, but do you not think it's a little unfair to punish everyone else for her mistakes? Being desensitised to your mother's problems doesn't necessarily mean that you have to dismiss everyone else who appears to be in the same position.

OP please be wary. Addicts can be very unpredictable and dangerous, you are not trained to deal with his complex needs. I totally understand that you want to help but most addicts don't want "saving", they just want someone to facilitate their supply. I beg you to leave it to the professionals sort this out - if they aren't involved it will be because he has refused to cooperate or even engage.

Zippey - you'd "probably" help a child, but "not sure". You sound utterly delightful. Make our country a better place and all that .