While as I was in Toronto this week, I stopped at a corner store to pick up some items, the store was at the corner of Bay and Gerrard, the guy in front of me(early twenties) paid for his smokes and as he was leaving the store this guy in his late thirties, stop him and said "You can buy smokes, but you can't pay me the money you owe me". They left the store and 2 seconds later fists are flying, and the younger guy is beating the crap out of the older guy. The store clerk phone 911 and someone in a car stopped for a red light did the same. No one else got involve, the fight lasted about 2 minutes and ended in the street. The younger guy pick up his bag and kept on walking, the guy that got beat up, went on his own way. My question is, in this type of situation, should people try to stop the fight or wait until it is over before they help someone. This happened Wed afternoon around 4pm.
Street Fight
- Thread starter Paws
- Start date
Walk away...
I take that back.... RUN away.
A fight between two guys? Who cares? And on top of that... step in and you could get stabed or even shot. Really! Unless it was a friend of mine invovled I would just walk away. Don't even stand and watch... cause if the police do come... then they may want to question you as a witness... and take up all your time etc. Forget it. It's just a fihgt. Who cares?
I take that back.... RUN away.
A fight between two guys? Who cares? And on top of that... step in and you could get stabed or even shot. Really! Unless it was a friend of mine invovled I would just walk away. Don't even stand and watch... cause if the police do come... then they may want to question you as a witness... and take up all your time etc. Forget it. It's just a fihgt. Who cares?
You have to choose when and how to get involved. In some areas of town it can be a lot more dangerious when a 'stranger' gets involved. You can find yourself being attacked by both sides.
I remember one time seeing a blind man crossing in the middle of the street and being narrowly missed by a couple of cars. A good samaritan rushed out to help the fellow across. The blind man started yelling and cursing at him and hitting him with his cane. I remember the dumb-founded look on the sameritan's face. I wanted to yell at the sameritan to 'let him be!'.
What the sameriatan didn't understand was that, in that part of town, any sign of weakness makes you a target. The blind man couldn't afford to show a weakness in needing help. And the blind man probably was assuming whoever was trying to grab him was trying to take his "stuff". Which, by the way, before crossing the street, the blind man had come out of a hotel that was well known for drug dealing and possibly some forced prostitution.
If you feel a need to get involved in a fight, it's probably best to limit yourself to calling 911 and moving away from the fight. Even after the fight, help may not be appreciated.
I remember one time seeing a blind man crossing in the middle of the street and being narrowly missed by a couple of cars. A good samaritan rushed out to help the fellow across. The blind man started yelling and cursing at him and hitting him with his cane. I remember the dumb-founded look on the sameritan's face. I wanted to yell at the sameritan to 'let him be!'.
What the sameriatan didn't understand was that, in that part of town, any sign of weakness makes you a target. The blind man couldn't afford to show a weakness in needing help. And the blind man probably was assuming whoever was trying to grab him was trying to take his "stuff". Which, by the way, before crossing the street, the blind man had come out of a hotel that was well known for drug dealing and possibly some forced prostitution.
If you feel a need to get involved in a fight, it's probably best to limit yourself to calling 911 and moving away from the fight. Even after the fight, help may not be appreciated.
If its "just a fight", and everyone walks away with nothing more than a few ruffled feathers, then its no big deal. But unless you're clairvoyant, how do you know how the fight will end?
You should concentrate on getting a very detailed description of the people in the fight. Especially unique identifying marks like tattoos, piercings, scars, etc. That type of info will definitely help LE catch and convict someone, should it turn out to be more than "just a fight".
You should concentrate on getting a very detailed description of the people in the fight. Especially unique identifying marks like tattoos, piercings, scars, etc. That type of info will definitely help LE catch and convict someone, should it turn out to be more than "just a fight".
I totally concur with Snake. Sticking your head in the sand is exactly what has gotten us to the point where violence is an accepted part of everyday life. Gimme a break. If you're a man, act like one. If you don't want to physically get involved, okay, I can understand that. But to walk away and not even help the cops? That's just selfish and irresponsible. I'd expect that from a street punk, not a true adult...
Good advice Snake. When you don't know what's going on, it's a good idea to be as observant as possible and to pass that information along to LE if things get serious enough to warrant their involvement. It's a judgement call whether to observe before or after you call 911. You may not want to wait for the outcome before sending for help.
Came out of a bar last year to see this guy stomping on some other almost unconscious guys head. My buddy and i challenged him and he ran off, we called the cops and somehow they nabbed him. If we hadn't done anything, the guy on the ground would likely have been dead or seriously disabled. On the other hand, it just as easily could have gone wrong, and my buddy and I could have got shot / stabbed etc. Messed up society we live in. When I was young (old man speech coming) fights ended whenone guy fell down, or more often after a few choice punches. Know people think its cool to stomp on someones head till grey matter spills out. Yeah violent movies / vid games dont affect kids, really.....
I've seen all sides on this one...this one neighbourhood I lived in about 10 years ago was pretty rough (Main and Broadway, Vancouver) and you had to be on the ball all the time.
It worked like this - if you saw a domestic on the street you stayed about 50 feet away and made it obvious you were watching to see it didn't get too out of hand. I was doing this for quite a while before I noticed there would always be a couple of other people doing the same thing. Nobody ever acknowledged what was up, but all parties understood - your business is your business, but you go too far and we'll not just be on your ass, we'll be talking to cops later.
This was a very anti-cop neighbourhood, so cops weren't called for petty stuff, but there were things you just did not do, and smacking your girlfriend on the street was one of them.
Guys fighting each other were let to fight it out unless it was a grossly unfair match and/or weapons were being used. Then you'd get bystanders yelling and threatening to kick the shit out of both combatants unless they knocked it off. Cops were rarely called.
What no-one did was get in there between scrappers unless it looked like somebody was actually going to die. My friend learned that the hard way. His next-door neighbour was beating the crap out of his girlfriend and answered my friend's knocking at his door with a baseball bat, and my buddy is permanently blind in one eye as a result.
There is no right answer to this one. It depends on where you are, who's fighting, why they're fighting, how they're fighting, if you're from the same neighbourhood or a total stranger, if your social status is similar to the combatants or very different, if either of the fighters knows you, and how many other people are around, and where you think their loyalties might lie should you jump in.
Nothing like trying to be a hero and suddenly having half the neighbourhood kicking your ass because they know the backstory and you don't.
My advice? In most situations, standing far enough back so you can book it if you have to, yell that you have ALREADY called the cops, and make sure they can see you on your cell. At that point, call the cops.
If it looks like the cops aren't going to get there in time, and you think somebody is actually being killed, only jump in there if you have a shielding weapon - something you can grab, like a realty sign off a lawn, a sandwich board from in front of a store, anything, and sucker the guy who's doing damage. You'll probably only get one shot, so make it a good one. You want to distract him long enough for the cops to arrive or the victim to get away.
Then get the hell out of there.
It worked like this - if you saw a domestic on the street you stayed about 50 feet away and made it obvious you were watching to see it didn't get too out of hand. I was doing this for quite a while before I noticed there would always be a couple of other people doing the same thing. Nobody ever acknowledged what was up, but all parties understood - your business is your business, but you go too far and we'll not just be on your ass, we'll be talking to cops later.
This was a very anti-cop neighbourhood, so cops weren't called for petty stuff, but there were things you just did not do, and smacking your girlfriend on the street was one of them.
Guys fighting each other were let to fight it out unless it was a grossly unfair match and/or weapons were being used. Then you'd get bystanders yelling and threatening to kick the shit out of both combatants unless they knocked it off. Cops were rarely called.
What no-one did was get in there between scrappers unless it looked like somebody was actually going to die. My friend learned that the hard way. His next-door neighbour was beating the crap out of his girlfriend and answered my friend's knocking at his door with a baseball bat, and my buddy is permanently blind in one eye as a result.
There is no right answer to this one. It depends on where you are, who's fighting, why they're fighting, how they're fighting, if you're from the same neighbourhood or a total stranger, if your social status is similar to the combatants or very different, if either of the fighters knows you, and how many other people are around, and where you think their loyalties might lie should you jump in.
Nothing like trying to be a hero and suddenly having half the neighbourhood kicking your ass because they know the backstory and you don't.
My advice? In most situations, standing far enough back so you can book it if you have to, yell that you have ALREADY called the cops, and make sure they can see you on your cell. At that point, call the cops.
If it looks like the cops aren't going to get there in time, and you think somebody is actually being killed, only jump in there if you have a shielding weapon - something you can grab, like a realty sign off a lawn, a sandwich board from in front of a store, anything, and sucker the guy who's doing damage. You'll probably only get one shot, so make it a good one. You want to distract him long enough for the cops to arrive or the victim to get away.
Then get the hell out of there.
Re: Limeridge Mall....Hamilton
I remember a case where there were dozens of bystnaders watching a Toronto female cop get tuned. She was beyond pissed afterwards. Social psychology 101 will say that people tend to not get involved when a group is there (they pass the buck), and are more likely to get involved if they are alone (screaming at the offender, breaking it up, ect).
BBLACK
secret_touch said:
I remember a case where there were dozens of bystnaders watching a Toronto female cop get tuned. She was beyond pissed afterwards. Social psychology 101 will say that people tend to not get involved when a group is there (they pass the buck), and are more likely to get involved if they are alone (screaming at the offender, breaking it up, ect).
BBLACK
For all they guys who are reading this, and thinking about being a
hero by trying to stop fights:
One of my good friends was charged and convicted of assault because
he stopped a fight at a bar (he didn't know either party). How's that
for being a Good Samaritan?
The moral of the story: if it's not your business, don't get involved.
hero by trying to stop fights:
One of my good friends was charged and convicted of assault because
he stopped a fight at a bar (he didn't know either party). How's that
for being a Good Samaritan?
The moral of the story: if it's not your business, don't get involved.
