Would you stop and help?

One of the nicest posts I've read

I'd like to think I'd stop and help.

Well done for your actions. I too would like to think that I would stop and help - but it is only when you find yourself in that situation that you find out your true reaction.

Brad

Definitely would help.

For a dog?

What about someone being mugged?

Of course I would, and I have three times over the years. Two were reunited with owners, I don't know about the third one. The first was legging it down the pavement with his lead trailing in Tottenham Court Road. Shortly after I took him to the Police Station the owner turned up. The other two I found wandering in traffic and I stopped much to the annoyance of other drivers - obviously not a dog owner among them!

As for a mugging/assualt, it's only happened twice - once to me and once to someone else as I came around a corner. I'm happy to say that both times they were sat on until the police took them away.

Cheers

Harry

My wife and I would definitely stop and help, no question.

Respect to ya for making the time.

Ian

My wife certainly did - not only did she make sure the dog was safe with the police but she also kept ringing to check if the dog was still OK and ended up doing the research herself to find the owner when she felt that the police weren't looking hard enough.......

Dog and (elderly) owners were reunited in the end.

I'd like to think that I would do the same, but I know I'm not as persistent and determined as she is.

A few years back found a "guest" dog helping himself to the catfood in our garage. He had a collar but no id tag so I popped him in the car and took him to the nearest police staion (about 5 miles away.) Later got a very happy owner caling to thank me. The escapee was from only a few doors away but we hadn't recognised him!

On naother occassion we were joined on a walk in nearby woods by a young whippet, who wanted to play with our 2 labs. We hung around but heard no shouts and saw nobody so we took him home. I then went out in my car to look for someone near the woods who might look as if they'd lost a dog. Sure enough on the lane to the woods I passed a guy in another Volvo estate going very slowly and looking through gaps in the hedge. I stopped alongside and sure enough he was William's owner! William meantime had made himself at home chez nous and was showing off to the labs by leaping onto the work tops in the kitchen!

My faith in humanity has almost been restored!

Thanx everyone.

On an aside, I have just heard from my baby sister (15 - not so much of a baby now huh) who is on holiday with my folks in Italy at the moment. She tells me that she had an encounter with a pick-pocket in Naples. When I asked her what happened she said he stuck his hand in her bag (which she must have felt) so she turned round and hit him! He then ran off - I say well done..... down with pick-pockets!

saw one hot footing it along an autoroute near Lourdes (back to the dogs here). Stopped but the constant stream of 80mph traffic and the fact that the dog was already a few hundred metres behind us made us decide that it probably wasn't a very good idea given the circumstances.

My X and I were in a forest at the outskirts of town walking the Malamute around 10.30 PM (cold time of night and no other dogs) when out of the trees came a little Jack Russel. It walked straight up to the Malamute - and lived through the next five seconds (amazing in itself). We hurriedly picked the thing up, called out for the owner - then had to carry it back to the car and take it home. It was registered and tagged and we found to our amazement that a Council staff member actually answered the phone at near to midnight. We gave her the number, she rang the owners (who lived at the edge of the forest), connected our phones and we met so I could hand over the prisoner. It was nice to find out that paying for dog registration does actually buy a service.

Not an animal situation, but a human one. Depending on your point of view?

My mother-in-law stopped to give the "kiss of life" to an alcoholic tramp who collapsed with a heart attack in the high street of a large city. Once the ambulance arrived she remounted her broom.... up, up and away!

Difficult moral choice. Does an acoholic tramp really want to live? Or was she deliberately prolonging the agony?

Speaking of tramps, we had one who was in such a bad way we called an ambulance to take him to hospital for a cleanup.
He was not very happy, an absolute invasion of his privacy, and to boot, came from a very wealthy family who were unable to assist as he rejected all their help.
He passed away in the next few months. I hope the trauma did not cause the early departure.

Well done. Sad fact is that most people probably as usual would do nothing.

quote:

Originally posted by HTK:
As for a mugging/assualt, it's only happened twice - once to me and once to someone else as I came around a corner. I'm happy to say that both times they were sat on until the police took them away.

You'd probably be done for false imprisonment these days if you did that - grrr.

I could have got out of being mugged once, had I left my mate Paddy... He kind of got nabbed as we went past an alley, and I suddenly realised he wasn't there. I couldn't see what was going on, and wish it'd been a bit lighter so I could have got down that alley without needing to use my cane - thus leaving it folded up to bash the ****er's head in. Muggers are scum - they deserve what they get.

As for a dog, no, I wouldn't stop. Basically because I'm highly nervous of them (especially ones I don't know) and they love victimising people who show fear. I like having all my limbs attached thanks. If I wasn't scared of them though...

quote:

Originally posted by TheRedHerring:
So, really my question is....... would you stop for a lost dog......... or for that matter some person in distress? Or does nobody care anymore?

I wouldn't stop to help a lost dog that needed to be caught because I don't know how to handle dogs. It would be different if it were injured and stationary.

If a person were hurt then I would help them, of course. I like to think most people would.


Coming across a person who is being robbed is one of my worst nightmares. Whether I would help would depend on the exact cicumstances:

If the victim were being robbed but not physically hurt then, in general, I would do nothing: there's no point in risking death or serious injury for the sake of possessions.

If the victim were being physically hurt then in general I would want to try to fight off the mugger(s). However, the thought that I might instead be rooted to the spot fills me with dread, since I don't have a good record when it comes to courage in the face of danger. As I previously mentioned (in a now deleted thread), some time after the 7/7 bombing a white cyclist deliberately rode at me in what IMO few, if any, non-racists would deny was most plausibly a 7/7-related act of racist intimidation. Since I feared he might be trouble when he was more than 100 yards away, I had plenty of time to think what to do if my suspicion proved correct. I decided it was important to show him that he could not intimidate me, to make him think twice before doing it to someone else. Since he would have to swerve sooner than I to be certain of avoiding a collision, I decided to feign nonchalance and then stop and stare at him defiantly as he approached his swerve-point, only jumping out of the way if he didn't swerve.

Unfortunately, I was so scared that instead of stopping and staring I unconsciously veered over to one edge of the pedestrian lane. The cyclist veered towards the other edge - but not into the bike lane - and I turned sideways at the last moment to avoid being hit by his handlebars. Hardly the outcome I intended but at least I tried...

As in the case above, not everyone is tough enough to handle potential danger as courageously as they should but tales of people being beaten up in city centres, with passers by pretending it's not happening, fill me with horror. Even if I proved too cowardly to put myself in mortal danger, I could not possibly ignore such a thing. I believe that in some other European countries it is illegal not to assist someone who is being attacked. Sometimes I wonder if we should have similar laws here...

Back to the dog theme....sort of!

A few years back I was making my way up the Kings Cross road around midday when I witnessed a smartly dressed man punch a lady in the face! I pulled over to offer assistance and by now the lady was on the floor and was now being kicked by the man. I placed myself between him and the lady and tried to establish what was happening, at this point two men appeared and pulled me away! It turned out that these men were Policemen, Vice Squad Policemen to be precise, and that I had stumbled upon a "Lady of the night" and her latest customer...whom had just been relieved of his wallet by the said woman!

Moral of the story is know what you are getting yourself into!

Hc

I saw a girl with a baby in a pram being thumped hard by a man beside a main road. The man was using as much force as he could and she just was just standing there and taking it.
I immediately stopped the car and shouted at the man to stop hitting her. She turned to me and told me to fuck off in no uncertain terms! I still wonder whether she survived this close relationship.

Well I guess it helps that I have a dog and that I've always loved dogs, but I do approach unknown dogs with caution until I can sus out their temperament.

I like to think that we stopped to catch this dog not only for the dogs welfare but also to stop any poor driver hitting it.

I find it very hard when it comes to stopping for people, depending on the situation, but being female and usually on my own in the car whenever I see anything I must say I would be wary. There were local reports of lads flagging cars down with one of their mates lying on the ground as if hurt and on stopping and getting out the drivers were either beaten up or their car being stolen.

So, maybe dogs are the safer bet?!

Good point and a sad reflection of the world we live in. I would be very reluctant to get out of my car (which I always keep locked) for anything involving people – other tan an obvious accident. The last one I stumbled on involved a half length Audi A4 facing the wrong way down the road. Driver was standing beside it on her mobile. I just stopped and lowered the window to enquire that all were OK – which they were. In the great scheme of things I tend to have more alarm bells for animals and children.

Cheers

quote:

Originally posted by Nime:
I saw a girl with a baby in a pram being thumped hard by a man beside a main road. The man was using as much force as he could and she just was just standing there and taking it....

She turned to me and told me to fuck off in no uncertain terms!

I had this happen to me walking back from walking a mate back after our Grand Formal at Uni. I just thought "oh well, sod you - my conscience is clear". No murders were reported in the news, so I can assume the silly cow survived.