Calgary Has Some Horrible People Driving Around

[Guest Sundancefisher]

Callous drivers caught on tape

 

By NADIA MOHARIB, Calgary Sun

 

Last Updated: August 21, 2010 9:57pm

 

 

LYLE ASPINALL/Calgary Sun

 

Motorists seemed to turn a blind eye, Friday, to a man lying on the road after being thrown from his minivan.

 

Some might call it selfish, callous or a calculated decision to deprive a stranger of even the most basic kindness.

 

For all anyone knows, it could have been a life-saving gesture.

 

But traffic Sgt. Doug McIlwraith, with about 20 years on a job where there isn’t much he hasn’t seen, simply calls it shocking and disappointing.

 

Investigators working on a crash where a 21-year-old died Friday, after being thrown from his minivan to the edge of the road, found the incident caught on city video traffic surveillance cameras.

 

With no witnesses, it offers documented footage explaining how it unfolded.

 

The other tale of the tape is a sad and sickening commentary on the willingness of some to turn a blind eye to a fellow citizen who might have been saved had they only called for help.

 

It was too late, but several motorists wouldn’t know that, because they didn’t stop and apparently didn’t call 911, either.

 

Instead, video shows several driving past the body, motoring on their merry way.

 

“It was amazing to watch — not just the collision but the number of cars that just drove by,” says McIlwraith.

 

“We have a body on the road and the number of cars that just drive by … it’s incredible … no one stops.

 

“We do not have an endless list of calls to 911. Cars just brake, move out of the way and keep driving — people just slow down, drive around and keep going.”

 

For the traffic cop, the pain of knowing so many did nothing was likely exacerbated given he was tasked in telling the man’s parents and siblings left behind he was dead.

 

If video proof some people couldn’t be bothered to help that man isn’t bad enough, he says it isn’t the only example of what kind folk might call utter apathy ­— and those more critical might label as cruel.

 

Another recent crash, also caught on tape, shows someone being thrown from a motorbike and a motorist directly behind driving away.

 

“They moved to the right, went around the crash and just kept right on going,” McIlwraith says. “It’s pretty hard to take the position they didn’t see it when they have to go around it. Whether it’s the vehicle with huge damage or a person on the roadway, many drivers are choosing not to stop, choosing not to pick up the phone and call police and I can’t tell you why,” he says.

 

“If this was your loved one, would you not want people calling for help? I find it disappointing someone cannot make a call to get help and the fact is, it’s not just one case, time and again, wherever people are going is more important than what they are faced with right now.” Not even an off-duty trauma surgeon first on scene could have saved the man this weekend, but knowing someone had stopped might have afforded his family comfort, knowing human compassion was at his side rather than him being alone.

 

“No one is asking you to get out and start mouth-to-mouth or do CPR but to get help. Man, if it were your family would you not want someone to stop and check for a pulse or block the scene so they are not run over or call 911? This is someone’s son or daughter and maybe someone’s mom or dad, we should at least be trying to get some help.”

 

nadia.moharib@sunmedia.ca

[flyfishfairwx]

I just read that and feel noting but disrespect and loathing for those that passed by, there is no excuse for not stopping , were you are going is not that important, that you can't stop to help a fellow human.

 

you are Canadian and or living in Canada, for Gods sake, act like it.

We are better then this!

[Hawgstoppah]

They really need to make an example out of this and make an example out of the a-holes who drove right on by. Like a big list of names.. they got the license plates... lets see the names pasted all across canada in national spotlights. I'm like Ray... the feeling inside right now is beyond anger, the best word is loathing.

[Heimdallr]

Releasing the people's names opens a huge can of worms regarding privacy and information that I don't think anyone here really wants.

 

While I do totally condemn those that drove around the man, there is a psychological precedent for this kind of thing.

 

Bystander Apathy Effect: http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Bystander_intervention

 

I don't know, in the end someone should have stopped.

[Guest 420FLYFISHIN]

its just more signs of the small town feel we once felt for Calgary is quickly spiraling down the sewer. Stuff like this happens all the time in NY, LA, Chicago and so on.

 

[flyfishfairwx]

its just more signs of the small town feel we once felt for Calgary is quickly spiraling down the sewer. Stuff like this happens all the time in NY, LA, Chicago, Toronto, Hamilton and so on .

 

I fear now that is starting and gaining foot holds in our large western centers..

 

Sad day for CANADA. Home of the nice people, that claim may now be gone forever!

 

[birchy]

I witnessed something very similar with my own eyes 2 summers ago.

 

It was during Stampede and I was going to pick up my wife and her cousin from the grounds when I saw a guy laying unconscious on the sidewalk with his bicycle beside him. I figured he had crashed, or gotten hit. There was a gentleman walking down the sidewalk towards the unconscious person, so I stopped and turned around to watch and see if he would help.. if he didn't, then I would go back and help. What I saw absolutely blew my mind. The unconscious man was laying across the sidewalk, so the guy walking by literally STEPPED OVER TOP OF HIM, and kept right on walking. I couldn't believe it!

 

So I did a u-turn and went back to help. Checked for breathing and a pulse right away, and he was still alive. Tried waking him up by talking to him and smacking his cheeks. No response. Called 9-1-1. Waited for the ambulance to show up and explained the situation to the paramedics. They were able to revive him while I was still there by doing the same thing I did, except rougher. Once they had enough information to figure out that I hadn't actually hit the guy myself, they let me go and thanked me for calling it in. Turns out the guy was just very drunk and had "fallen and couldn't get up". I believe the paramedic called it a "stampede special" or something along those lines. haha

 

To this day, I still cannot get over the fact that the other guy just stepped over top of this man and kept walking! So as appalling as it is, the above article didn't surprise me at all.

[reevesr1]

Before everyone goes off the deep end, the most celebrated case of bystander apathy was in New York 30 or 40 yrs ago. An entire neighborhood heard a woman getting raped and did nothing. Books were written and everything. Cept it turned out to be pretty much total BS. Made for a great story, only problem was it wasn't true. Not saying the Calgary Sun isn't a totally credible source of information, but I think I'll wait for a bit more information before I'm ready to declare the end of western civilization.

 

But what do I know, I'm from a big city and apparently we step over dying people all the time on our way to our important appointments. Please.

[bigbowtrout]

NY for ya

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brookly...kjmS0Z3FNO4DmiL

[kungfool]

Before everyone goes off the deep end, the most celebrated case of bystander apathy was in New York 30 or 40 yrs ago. An entire neighborhood heard a woman getting raped and did nothing. Books were written and everything. Cept it turned out to be pretty much total BS. Made for a great story, only problem was it wasn't true. Not saying the Calgary Sun isn't a totally credible source of information, but I think I'll wait for a bit more information before I'm ready to declare the end of western civilization.

 

But what do I know, I'm from a big city and apparently we step over dying people all the time on our way to our important appointments. Please.

 

 

Well said Rick.

 

To be honest I have stepped over a few bums on my lunch time walks. I usually look for movement and signs of an accident or foul play (blood and such) but usually find an empty vodka bottle.

[Taco]

rich drunk, around these parts it's Lysol

[Guest Sundancefisher]

True enough Rick.

 

And by all accounts an article in the Sun today agrees with you. Apparently it was foggy and the body was hard to spot. Police are now saying someone following behind actually phoned the accident in.

 

Truth be known...you rarely find the truth in the Calgary Sun or any newspaper these day. Truth is rarely exciting enough to read I suppose.

[birchy]

Just for the record.. my guy wasn't downtown, and he wasn't a bum. 34th Ave. in Marda Loop, regular Joe just like you or me, laying unconscious on the sidewalk with bike beside him. Very obvious that only one of two things happened... crashed or hit by vehicle.

[Guest Sundancefisher]

I witnessed something very similar with my own eyes 2 summers ago.

 

It was during Stampede and I was going to pick up my wife and her cousin from the grounds when I saw a guy laying unconscious on the sidewalk with his bicycle beside him. I figured he had crashed, or gotten hit. There was a gentleman walking down the sidewalk towards the unconscious person, so I stopped and turned around to watch and see if he would help.. if he didn't, then I would go back and help. What I saw absolutely blew my mind. The unconscious man was laying across the sidewalk, so the guy walking by literally STEPPED OVER TOP OF HIM, and kept right on walking. I couldn't believe it!

 

So I did a u-turn and went back to help. Checked for breathing and a pulse right away, and he was still alive. Tried waking him up by talking to him and smacking his cheeks. No response. Called 9-1-1. Waited for the ambulance to show up and explained the situation to the paramedics. They were able to revive him while I was still there by doing the same thing I did, except rougher. Once they had enough information to figure out that I hadn't actually hit the guy myself, they let me go and thanked me for calling it in. Turns out the guy was just very drunk and had "fallen and couldn't get up". I believe the paramedic called it a "stampede special" or something along those lines. haha

 

To this day, I still cannot get over the fact that the other guy just stepped over top of this man and kept walking! So as appalling as it is, the above article didn't surprise me at all.

 

I was walking downtown this Spring and ran across some fresh looking blood on the sidewalk. I actually could tell from the splatter which way the person was walking. I only needed to walk about 50 feet when I caught the glimpse of a guy sitting off to the side in a parking lot on the ground. I stopped. Observed he looked wet and was wiping his face and neck. After a second it hit me it was blood pouring down his head. He was clearly a vagrant and I went up to him and ask him if he was alright. He started swearing and cursing at me but clearly he was in real trouble without medical help. I called 911 and talked with him...keeping him calm as we waited for an ambulance. The ambulance took 10 -15 minutes as it got lost. I could hear it but it kept turning off.

 

I helped coach the guy on self administered first aid as I did not have protective gloves...too dangerous.

 

Eventually I was able to turn him over to the paramedics and police. Turns out two guys attacked him with metal bars and fractured his skull and ripped his scalp away in a few places.

 

End of my duty as a concerned Calgary citiizen.

 

True story!

 

Sun

[reevesr1]

Just for the record.. my guy wasn't downtown, and he wasn't a bum. 34th Ave. in Marda Loop, regular Joe just like you or me, laying unconscious on the sidewalk with bike beside him. Very obvious that only one of two things happened... crashed or hit by vehicle.

Ryan,

Never said it doesn't happen, it just happens FAR less than people think. If what Sun (the person) says is correct, the Sun (paper) did something pretty rare, they printed a clarification of the story. But the reality is a whole bunch of people now think Calgarians routinely drive past dying people and don't stop. Another urban legend begins.

 

And to take this in another direction, I have a question:

 

In the US every year now there are malls all over the country that sponsor Halloween events to keep people off the streets and safe from people giving out poisoned candy and apples with razor blades. Every major city will have several places where people can tick or treat safely. So my question is: How many cases of poisoned or tampered candy have there been in the US, where the victim was not a family member of the perpetrator? The answer? 0. It has never happened. There have been stories about poisoned candy, but they have all turned out to either be hoaxes by the child or a family member who did the poisoning. But it is almost common knowledge that children have been poisoned. Problem is that the common knowledge is based on total crap. The myth of the apathetic bystander is very close to the same thing. Far more myth than reality.

 

My bet is, if there was a way to measure which there probably isn't, people really haven't changed in the last few decades as those of us living in these decades think they have. We all like to think our generation (or the ones just behind us) is somehow different, for good or bad. Pretty myopic when you think about it. We've been around for a long time. I'd imagine true changes in the morality of a society take quite a long time to take place. That's speaking as the hick Texan that I am.

[Guest Sundancefisher]

Ryan,

Never said it doesn't happen, it just happens FAR less than people think. If what Sun (the person) says is correct, the Sun (paper) did something pretty rare, they printed a clarification of the story. But the reality is a whole bunch of people now think Calgarians routinely drive past dying people and don't stop. Another urban legend begins.

 

And to take this in another direction, I have a question:

 

In the US every year now there are malls all over the country that sponsor Halloween events to keep people off the streets and safe from people giving out poisoned candy and apples with razor blades. Every major city will have several places where people can tick or treat safely. So my question is: How many cases of poisoned or tampered candy have there been in the US, where the victim was not a family member of the perpetrator? The answer? 0. It has never happened. There have been stories about poisoned candy, but they have all turned out to either be hoaxes by the child or a family member who did the poisoning. But it is almost common knowledge that children have been poisoned. Problem is that the common knowledge is based on total crap. The myth of the apathetic bystander is very close to the same thing. Far more myth than reality.

 

My bet is, if there was a way to measure which there probably isn't, people really haven't changed in the last few decades as those of us living in these decades think they have. We all like to think our generation (or the ones just behind us) is somehow different, for good or bad. Pretty myopic when you think about it. We've been around for a long time. I'd imagine true changes in the morality of a society take quite a long time to take place. That's speaking as the hick Texan that I am.

 

Great points Rick

 

[fishfreak]

This morning as I was walking to work, I saw a biker on the ground, after getting hit by a car. Within a couple of minutes, 6 of us asked if he was alright, someone already called 911 before I got there, and a fire truck was there a couple of minutes later. All this happened at 7:50am, at the peak of rush hour, yet people were there to make sure he was alright.

[birchy]

I witnessed this on the way home yesterday too. There was a bit of a "commotion" on the corner of 33rd Ave. & Crowchild Tr. SW at the top of the ramp. When I rounded the corner there was a lady laying on the ground on her side.. she was either unconscious or sleeping. Two other people there helping her and I'm assuming waiting for a ambulance.