Dozens Ignore Man Bleeding to Death on City Sidewalk

This was a story from Jamaica, New York that I got off of the KTLA News site.
This is a story about a homeless man named Hugo Tale-Yax, who 31 years old, was bleeding to death on the street as people walked by. The NYPD released the video that shows this man lying on the sidewalk with at least 25 people walking past him. Not one person stopped to see if he was ok or even offered a helping hand. Tale-Yax’s funeral is Wednesday from 3-9 pm at Funeraria La Fe, 183 Wyckoff Ave. the report said, “In death, hundreds of mourners who never knew the 31-year-old are expected to pay tribute to the homeless man’s heroism, and lament the pedestrian apathy that immediately preceded his death.”

My first reaction to this story was the Bystander Effect. I am taking a general psychology course and in the last few weeks we were learning about the Bystander Effect, which is the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.

Although most of these people walked by individually, there is still a bystander effect going on here. There is a man who was helping a women who was assaulted, and doing so, he was stabbed and left on the street to bleed to death. There are 6 factors that can influence whether someone will help a stranger or not. Will helping put me in danger? Am I qualified to help? Is help even needed? Could I get sued? Shock and the last is time. These are questions that apparently no one asked themselves, or even cared to think about. The Bystander Effect is a horrible thing, and we need brave people out there who are willing to put their fears aside to help someone in need. Tale-Yax was an innocent man who was helping a woman, and where did that woman go? Apparently she watched a man help her, and she went on about her day. She could have saved this man’s life, but she didn’t. I wonder if she is watched the news, or even this video and realized that is the man that saved her. I realize people are worried about getting sued because of some stupid reason for helping someone in need; but desperate times call for desperate measures. I still cannot believe that 25 people walked pass this man. All of the people looked at him and acknowledged he was there and may even need help, but not one person leaned over to see if he was ok. I understand that he was a homeless man, and to some people he could have been “sleeping on the street” or something, but when he was bleeding to death, someone should have seen the blood around him.

I hope this story will give others the motivation to help others around them; even if they are strangers. One person calling 911 on time could have saved this man’s life. I know if I were walking by this man on the street, I would have at least asked him if he was ok. I imagine with him being stabbed he was moaning or making some kind of pain noise. I am a very cautious person, and I don’t trust anyone, but I bet 99% of the people walking past him had a cell phone. If you don’t want to put yourself in danger, fine, but pick up your cell phone and call for help. Everyone now days are so self oriented, they care little if any about the people around them. We need to take care of each other, and that is something we as American’s lack very highly in.