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AIBU?

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Original poster

People taking photos of someone seriously injured

117 replies

holly873 · 20/04/2019 21:26

I was at the beach today. At one point a coastguard helicopter landed behind the seawall for what was an obvious emergency incident. I later found out on the news that a woman slipped on the rocks and banged her head. Anyway whilst the emergency services were on the scene there must have been around 200 people looking over the seawall gawping and taking photos until the helicopter left. I was disgusted at the lack of respect people were showing someone who was obviously seriously injured. What is wrong with these people? I'm sure they wouldn't like a huge crowd doing this if they or their loved one was injured.

OP posts:
KittensinaBlender · 20/04/2019 21:28

I can’t stand it either. I don’t understand what they are going to do with them. Who wants to browse through an album of seriously injured people?

Original poster
holly873 · 20/04/2019 21:33

The incident is on the local newspaper fb page this evening and three people have uploaded their photos in the comments section Angry

OP posts:
Finfintytint · 20/04/2019 21:40

It’s grim. I stopped at an accident where an elderly driver had put her car in a pond and was chest deep submerged in the driver’s seat (she’d broken her femur and was also at risk of drowning and hyperthermia). I was absolutely enraged at the fuckers who were filming the incident as me and a couple of blokes got her out of the car.
I ran past those already filming to assist her. I cannot understand the logic of getting the footage being more important than helping someone.

Original poster
holly873 · 20/04/2019 21:42

It's disgusting isn't it.

OP posts:
Prequelle · 20/04/2019 21:43

What gets me is when people put it all over Facebook

A friend found out her loved one had been in a seriously bad accident after seeing a photo of their car mashed to pieces on Facebook

Orchidflower1 · 20/04/2019 21:44

It’s a vile thing to do.

Different if it a crime and you may need evidence but even that should come secondary to helping someone.

It should be a public order type offence and be fineable.

Brigante9 · 20/04/2019 21:46

I think it’s human nature, much like the rubber necking that causes serious hold ups on the motorway, miraculously clear as soon as you’re past the accident.

When I had my accident-the surgeon said it was the worst injury he’d ever seen-my mate who had rushed to help took a photo, as did the A&E nurse. I was like, yeah, go ahead, no worries. The inside of my leg was all coming out and there was blood covering the whole area. Very messy, I can understand why people were fascinated.

SarahTancredi · 20/04/2019 21:48

Its disgusting.

If you arent helping.
If you arent taking pictures as evidence to help a police or medical case.

Then fuck off.

All you are doing is cashing in on someone elses misery and getting in the way of the people who are actually trying to help.

Fairylea · 20/04/2019 21:50

I can’t stand it either. Why do people do this?!

I am also so sick of people sharing graphic images on Facebook- this week I’ve hidden several posts people have shared re domestic violence. I appreciate its good to raise awareness (and that is an issue particularly close to my own heart) but I only have people on my Facebook that I know well enough that I don’t need to bombard them with stuff like that and it’s so upsetting. I want to use Facebook etc to share photos and happy things with friends I am fed up with people using it as some sort of political / propaganda platform.
Sorry that turned into a rant. Blush

Original poster
holly873 · 20/04/2019 21:51

OK I can understand the instant curiosity to see why a helicopter landed perhaps, but people stood there watching the incident for 20 minutes taking photos until the helicopter left the scene.

OP posts:
allthingsred · 20/04/2019 21:53

It's horrible.
Sadly I think it's becoming the way of the world. People would stand & record/take pics rather than help.

CherryPavlova · 20/04/2019 21:53

It’s appalling and entirely inappropriate. I think the photographer who took photos of a dying Princess of Wales behaved very shoddily and can’t begin to imagine the horror felt by the, then, young princes when they were splashed all over the tabloids for financial gain.
I’m not an ardent Royalist but do think it was about as distasteful as you can get.

Hopeygoflightly · 20/04/2019 22:01

Awful, absolutely awful

DoomOnTheBroom · 20/04/2019 22:15

I was in a car crash several years ago and while we at the side of the road in the immediate aftermath, stuck in the car because the doors were jammed shut and asking each other "Are you okay? What happened?" while we tried to work out if any of us were hurt, people were coming and looking in the side windows. No offers to help, no asking if we were okay, just gawping. The shop owner from across the road appeared, gave them all a right rollicking, and told us help was coming because he'd rang 999, then he passed water through the windows, asked if anyone was hurt, and enlisted a couple of bystanders to try pull the doors open. When the ambulance came the paramedics had to tell people to move so they could get through, move so they could get me back to the ambulance, and then move so they could shut the door because they were literally bodily leaning in the open doorway for a look as I was being loaded in.

Fuckers.

ballsdeep · 20/04/2019 22:15

It's disgusting. I ways remember seeing footage of the Barcelona terrorist incident a few years back and there was a young child on the road who was still alive. The person filming went quite close to him then walked on filming dead and seriously injured people
It absolutely chilled me to the core that a child was potentially dying and instead of offering comfort and help they decided to film. In order to get a few likes on social media. Such a sad world

magicstar1 · 20/04/2019 22:22

It’s awful. We had an accident on a motorway here recently, and a woman was decapitated. Some fucker actually took a photo and posted it on Facebook, before her family were even informed.

Finfintytint · 20/04/2019 22:24

Good god magic. That’s horrific.

Original poster
holly873 · 20/04/2019 22:25

^some harrowing stories above. People taking photos seem to lack decency.

OP posts:
CanoeDoYouThinkYouAre · 20/04/2019 22:28

There was a fatal accident on an A road near me a few weeks ago. It happened just under the overpass that I have to walk over to pick DD3 up from school.

It was crowded with people filming. Filming the poor man being cut out of the car. Filming him being loaded onto the air ambulance.

It was fucking disgusting. I nearly got pushed over by a woman RUNNING to the bridge so she could start filming.

My beautiful older sister was killed in a car accident. The idea that people may have taken photos of her dying makes me physically ill.

Absolute cunts.

Finfintytint · 20/04/2019 22:28

I wonder what the mentality is? Is it “ I don’t have the capacity, experience, balls to deal with what is happening in front of me so I’ll get kudos from recording it for posterity” or “ I’m a coward who just needs to be involved somehow”.

brizzlemint · 20/04/2019 22:28

Awful doesn't even begin to describe it. I saw a child killed in a road accident a few years ago, quite why anybody would want to take photos is way beyond me. I can see it like a photo in my head and I'd give anything not to be able to.

CanoeDoYouThinkYouAre · 20/04/2019 22:36

Oh brizzle, I'm so sorry.

People who have a weird need to be 'involved' in tragedy have no idea what the reality is.

brizzlemint · 20/04/2019 22:46

It was awful, but not awful for me compared to the family of the child when they found out of course.

Weirdwonders · 20/04/2019 22:54

Is it because they think they can sell the pictures to the news or something maybe? Or get their Twitter name on there? This kind of lazy ‘send us your pictures’ behaviour has been encouraged by the media in recent years but you’d think people would express some common decency.

senbei · 20/04/2019 22:57

Oh my god tell me about it!

The number of video clips and photos I've seen on the internet when it comes to tragic or humiliating situations is absolutely disgusting. Someone injured on the ground? Let's take a photo! Someone getting beaten up? Let's video it instead of doing anything productive! Someone crying silently in public for whatever reason? Time to take your phone our to take a photo/video and make some snide comments!

Appalling, really.