Would you stop and help?

[bodie]

This made me mad 

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2012/02/23/moseley-schoolboy-stranded-miles-from-home-in-cotteridge-after-catching-wrong-bus-home-to-moseley-97319-30387761/

Moseley schoolboy stranded miles from home in Cotteridge after catching wrong bus home to Moseley

Mkya Brown

A 10-YEAR-old boy was left terrified and in tears when he was stranded three miles from home after catching the wrong bus from school.

Mum Ebony Hancock has hit out after claiming passersby ignored pleas for help from distraught son Mkya.

The Severne Primary School pupil should have caught the 11A bus in Acocks Green and travelled three miles home to Moseley.

But he stepped aboard the 11C instead and ended up travelling 20 MILES around Birmingham, before getting off at Cotteridge.

Despite being clearly upset, passersby did not stop to help the little schoolboy who had no mobile phone to call his worried mum.

Miss Hancock, 29, said: ‘‘He was crying his heart out, but people were just walking past him.

‘‘He went into some shops but nobody would lend him a phone.

“He went to the door of a McDonald’s and said, ‘Can anybody help me,’ but no one answered.”

Meanwhile, the worried mum had called police after her son’s no-show at home at the usual time of 4.15pm.

“All he wants to do after school is come home and have his tea,” she said. “He’s very disciplined.

“I was being sick.’’

His mum and cops began searching the area near her home in a patrol car.

As darkness fell Mkya walked to Kings Norton before eventually finding a telephone box and dialling a taxi firm to take him home.

He arrived back at his house at 6.45pm, when a family member rang his mum to tell her the good news.

“I want to celebrate how proud I am of my son,” said Miss Hancock.

“I am so lucky that the wrong person didn’t stop.

“But there was no compassion at all from anybody.”

Peter Hopkins, head teacher at Severne Primary School, said: “We tell our children that if they feel in danger... to go into a place with lots of people and ask for help. He did exactly that.

“He was lost and in distress, and people just minded their own business.”

The teacher said the way Mkya had been ignored was “appalling – it’s a very sad state of affairs.”

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman confirmed that officers had conducted searches around Mkya’s home address and near his school.

“Police were informed that the child had returned home at 6.45pm, having got lost after boarding the wrong bus to travel home from school,” the spokeswoman said.

A spokesman for National Express said they were investigating.

Read More http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2012/02/23/moseley-schoolboy-stranded-miles-from-home-in-cotteridge-after-catching-wrong-bus-home-to-moseley-97319-30387761/#ixzz1nCDGABdC

[eris]

yes i would help him. i wouldnt even think about it.

i sometimes let strangers use my cell phone. i figure if they are asking a complete stranger on the street they must really really need to use the phone

this reminds me of something that happened like 10 years ago. i was walking down a very steep alley, and it was icy out. all of a sudden a small, black child about 6 years old came wooshing down the alley, headed for the road. he obviously fell and was sliding down the alley and couldnt stop. i didnt even think about it, i jumped in his way and snatches him up and set him down. i said, "are you ok" he shook his head. then i said, 'do you know how to get home". he shook his head yes. so then i said, "ok be careful !" and he ran off. if he would have told me he was hurt, or that he didnt know where he was i would have gladly helped him in any way i could.

[bodie]

Yes me too.   If i ever see anyone in distress i will always ask if they are ok,  especially if they are alone.  Regardless of age.  I think it is quite appalling that the kid was ignored.  His mother was on the radio this morning and she said he went into three shops, crying, asking if someone would ring his mum, or the police and they said "no we don't do that here"

Bastards!   She has got him his much requested mobile phone now.  I don't blame her.

[Calavera]

There is a general rule for that. Of course, this only applies generally (for strangers and for people who don't have a duty to help strangers).

The bystander effect: the more people there are, the less likely any of them will help.

Lesson to be learnt from this:

Don't expect others in the crowd to do the job. Take the lead and responsibility and do the helping yourself.

[bodie]

   yes i like men who take the lead

['andersom']

I ask, when I see someone in distress, to find out if they need help. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

A little kid in the village used to greet me with "aren't you the lady who helped me, when I hurt my hands?". I was raised that way. And, this being a small village, others are mostly like that too.


But I was about 18, when I thought up the plan of attack, would I  be in a place, where I would get no help when needed. (Bad areas of the city I lived then) Use my keys as a boxing ring, and smash some windows. When property gets damaged, people will call the police.

So far, I have never had to use that strategy though.

["couldbecousin"]

 I am really surprised that all those adults ignored a crying lost child, especially in
 these days when we hear so much about abduction and abuse.  I would have helped. 

['andersom']

When I went to Rome, with class, we were warned for kids who asked for help, because there were groups of conmen families, who used that as a tactic to rob gullible tourists. But, then you would notice some family around, somewhere. This was a kid utterly in distress.  Can't understand why no one reacted on that.

["couldbecousin"]

When I went to Rome, with class, we were warned for kids who asked for help, because there were groups of conmen families, who used that as a tactic to rob gullible tourists. But, then you would notice some family around, somewhere. This was a kid utterly in distress.  Can't understand why no one reacted on that.

 A cynical older friend of mine would probably sum it up by saying  "People suck." 

[Adam]

I would as well (and like calavera, knowing about things like the  bystander effect makes you more likely to, imo)

I think the reason here could be a combination of age (he looks a little older than 10 to me), what he was wearing, and (unfortunately) that he was black.

But thhen if he was CRYING, you'd surely think it would be safe to approach him, especially in a public area if he's on his own

[bodie]

Yes i wondered about the colour of his skin.  Birmingham is one of the most racially diverse places so it would be interesting to know if a white kid would have found assistance easier.  Apparently he was sobbing his heart out.  He found a payphone in the end that gives free calls to the local taxi firm,  and it was only after explaining tearfully on the phone that he got some help.   I think the bus driver was an arsehole too.  The kid told him he had got the wrong bus.  I dunno what the driver should have done,  maybe radioed his office to report a lost child,  but he should not have just dumped him in unfamiliar territory.   The kid and his mom were on the radio and they were both very well spoken,  no gangsta talk.

[Peter]

I am really surprised that all those adults ignored a crying lost child, especially in
 these days when we hear so much about abduction and abuse.  I would have helped. 

That could be precisely why people didn't help; who wants to be found with a missing and emotionally distraught 10 year old, miles from where he's supposed to be?  People might jump to unsavoury conclusions and be skeptical of your claims that you were just about to call the police.  Even the slightest hint of suspicion that a person might be involved in child abduction and paedophilia can seriously damage a person's social and professional standing, even if it all gets sorted out later.

[Callaway]

I would have offered him a ride home.  One time I stopped and asked a woman if she needed help because I could tell by the way that she was walking that her feet hurt.  She asked me how to get to the bus stop.  I told her where it was and offered her a ride home instead and gave her a twenty mile ride to her apartment complex.  She absolutely insisted on paying me so I let her give me a quarter.

Another time I was on the way to the hospital for a medical test when I saw a small child way too close to the busy highway I was driving on.  I stopped my car and the little boy was too small to tell me anything so I picked him up and walked to the house he must have come from saying, "Let's go find your mother."  I found his father instead and told him that I had found his son on the edge of the highway.  He was very relieved that he wasn't hurt.

I agree with Peter.

I wonder if people are more reluctant to help these days because someone might think that they are trying to kidnap the child rather than help them and they expose themselves to liability if they stop and try to help. 

When I see children crying in stores like WalMart now I don't pick them up anymore, but if I don't see their parents  I do lead them to the front desk so the store people can make the announcement and I stay there with them until their parent comes to get them.

[Adam]

I would have offered him a ride home.  One time I stopped and asked a woman if she needed help because I could tell by the way that she was walking that her feet hurt.  She asked me how to get to the bus stop.  I told her where it was and offered her a ride home instead and gave her a twenty mile ride to her apartment complex.  She absolutely insisted on paying me so I let her give me a quarter.

Another time I was on the way to the hospital for a medical test when I saw a small child way too close to the busy highway I was driving on.  I stopped my car and the little boy was too small to tell me anything so I picked him up and walked to the house he must have come from saying, "Let's go find your mother."  I found his father instead and told him that I had found his son on the edge of the highway.  He was very relieved that he wasn't hurt.

lol, is this the "advertise what a wonderful and much-needed person you are" thread?

[midlifeaspie]

Of course