Would you intervene?

[Ameri Boi]

If that dark alley included an iron bar on the floor.....yeah

[Xamonas Chegwé]

If that dark alley included an iron bar on the floor.....yeah

If you search the dead, zombie policeman by the fire hydrant, you can pick up a Magnum and 20 rounds.




Sorry. Resident Evil flashback!

[Link]

You are walking down the road after an evening in the pub, and noticing a commotion you see down a fairly dark side street a large guy assaulting a woman. She is screaming and there is a lot of noise.

What would you do?

Also, let's expand a bit on the theme. What would it take for you to get involved in an 'issue' you see happening on the street? What are the pros and cons?

Thinking about it and doing it are two very different things, however, If it was just one guy then I would like to think i'd intervene i've studied various practical martial arts over the years so would hope i could hold my own against your average big guy, however this is all hypothetical i'd certainly feel the urge to do something, whether i'd have the courage at the time is an entirely different matter, i'd like to think so but who knows until it happens.

[Clinton Huxley]

I'd probably shout "Just what the Devil is going on?!" from a safe distance and summon a constable.The best I could hope to achieve against this big, clearly psychotically violent guy in a fight would be to bruise his knuckles a bit....

[Boyle]

I'd intervene physically. Something about fucking with someone weaker than you really razzes me.

[A Monkey Shaved]

If I have a mobile of cell phone I would hide around a corner and discretely call emergency (000 for here in Australia, 911 for US) and put me on to the cops and give them the location of where the incident is happening. As for getting directly involved I would probably only exasperate the situation and make in worse, because as I happen to have been diagnosed Asperger syndrome my ability to defuse the situation through negotiation is extremely limited.

[The Dawktor]

I suspect that I would intervene- keeping my distance and explain that the Police have been called and are on their way and that they are on CCTV (a pretty safe bet in Urban UK).

[JOZeldenrust]

I've been in this situationtwo times, and I did intervene once, though not violently. I got a couple of half hearted slaps to the face on that occasions, but that's about it. I called the cops before I intervened, and there were people I knew a few feet behind me, so I didn't really feel threatened all that much. The guy doing the hitting wasn't completely out of control, so the chances that he was seriously going to harm me seemed quite slim.

Cops arrived a few minutes after the couple had left the scene, no longer fighting but screaming at each other. I left a statement to the cops, but never heard about it again.

The other time I was alone, so I stayed within line of sight, called the cops and hung back to make sure thing didn't get too violent. Open handed hits to the face might leave bruises, but they're not going to kill the girl. Again, when the cops arrived, I gave a statement, but the woman didn't want to press charges, and again I didn't hear about it since.

[Tails Turrosaki]

You are walking down the road after an evening in the pub, and noticing a commotion you see down a fairly dark side street a large guy assaulting a woman. She is screaming and there is a lot of noise.

What would you do?

Also, let's expand a bit on the theme. What would it take for you to get involved in an 'issue' you see happening on the street? What are the pros and cons?

We'll say I walked down the road after an evening on the playground...

Naturally, I pick up my cell phone, take a picture of the man, save it, call the cops, and try to do anything I can to get the man to stop without violence (my puny body can't do shit, so reasoning with him is more rational ).