I’m writing this post under two assumptions:
1 – Everybody believes that the perpetrator is a POS.
2 – The video is not mirrored.
Thursday September 9th around 715pm, a man kicked a woman down the escalator at the Barclays Center subway station in Brooklyn, NY.
Rightfully so, the people went after the man in comments on news websites and social media.
But then, you know who else received some online hate?
The lady standing behind the victim.
Hundreds of internet heroes blamed the lady for not…
- Not catching the falling victim
- Not doing anything to help the victim after the victim had tumbled all the way down the escalator
The video shows the kick twice.
The first time is at the 0:06 second mark. The victim flies past the bystander within the 0:06 second mark.
The second time is at the 0:13 second mark. The victim flies past the bystander within the 0:14 second mark.
So the victim flies past the bystander around one second.
Let’s go over some facts:
- There are three people on the up escalator: the perp, the victim, and the bystander.
- The victim is ahead of and above the bystander, by about two or three steps.
- The bystander has her left hand on the railing, and a large purse over her right shoulder. Her right arm is not free.
- The victim is falling down towards the bystander very quickly, around one second.
- The bystander, with one second to react, reflexively moves herself and her purse out of the way of the falling victim.
- After the victim tumbles to the ground, the perpetrator is on the escalator, still ahead of the bystander.
- The bystander turns around to see the victim crash down, turns back around and proceeds up the escalator.
- The video stops before we can see if any people nearby come to the aid of the victim, bystander on the up escalator included.
NYPD News posted the video on their Twitter account, asking for help in identifying the perpetrator. I responded to the tweet.
I called BS on all the people who cast blame on the bystander for not catching the lady.
I made a few assumptions:
- The bystander is a middle aged woman, mid 40s to 50s.
- The bystander does not look to be in peak physical condition, but rather in average shape for her age. She looks like a normal woman.
- The victim is between 100 and 120 lbs. It could be more because we don’t know what she’s carrying in any purse / bag / or pockets. You can see a bag in her left arm, but I can’t tell if she has a purse or not.
With the facts at hand, and with these reasonable assumptions up for debate, all the heroes on social media scolded the bystander for not grabbing the falling victim and saving her from a vicious tumble down the escalator.
The internet also scolded the bystander for not immediately running to the aid of the victim, somehow forgetting that the man who kicked the victim down WAS STILL ON THE ESCALATOR AHEAD OF THE BYSTANDER. That man just showed that he’s very willing to hit a lady. They also forgot that the bystander was still going UP on the UP ESCALATOR. If she were to run down immediately to check on the victim, she’d have to run down against the direction of the escalator. Is the average person able to do that?
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Now, I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt to all bystanders in the video for not rushing to the victim’s aid. The surveillance video is just too short. It focuses on the attack and the perpetrator. The intent of the video is to help the public to identify the perpetrator. We simply don’t know what happened in the immediate aftermath of the victim’s tumble.
So there are apparently three actions that the internet believes the bystander could have down to help the victim
1 – Try to grab the woman as she’s falling down and save her
Are you kidding me? Do you truly believe that an average middle aged woman can catch another person flying at her, while holding a purse in her right arm, while still trying to hold on to the railing, while standing BELOW the victim, while on a moving escalator?
Some are saying that maybe if she can just stick out her arm to slow the victim down, perhaps the victim could brace herself enough to prevent a total tumble. But then there’s also a strong possibility that in doing so, the bystander will fall as well. And then that means two women tumbling down on top of each other.
I am a 40 year old man who goes to the gym four days a week. I am 6 feet tall and consider myself to be in good shape. I don’t even know if I could catch that lady if I were in the bystander’s position. Maybe if you told me in advance what would happen, I could brace myself and get ready. But with one second to react? And while holding something in my right hand?
2 – Run down an up escalator to check on the victim
When’s the last time any of us tried going in the opposite direction of an escalator? High school when we were at the mall with our friends and fooling around before mall security shooed us away? The bystander does not look like a teenager to me. And how many steps did the victim fall? 20? 30? It’s not a quick jaunt down in calm times. And we don’t even know if she’s got the right shoes on for running.
3 – Hurry up the escalator and then run back down to check on the victim
Remember that the bystander just saw a man violently kick a woman down the escalator. That man just showed everyone that he’s not a gentleman, and that he’s willing to hit and hurt a woman. Do you truly expect that the bystander, a woman herself, to rush up the escalator past the perpetrator, while that perpetrator is still ahead and above her, and then proceed down the down escalator to the victim?
How do you know that the perpetrator won’t kick her down as well? What if he pushes her down the down escalator once he sees what she’s doing?
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I think it’s pretty obvious that a normal middle aged woman simply cannot do any of these three scenarios without seriously harming herself or putting herself at risk.
But tell me what you guys think.
Can I get a ruling?
mruvula 