First, the awful story of the two women killed by joyriders in a stolen car:
One nearby resident said: 'The impact of the crash actually shook our house, it was that horrendous.The two 15 year old girls, you see, were in the car that hit (and totally destroyed) the other driver's Ford Fiesta.
'I heard the sirens, a huge bang, and then more sirens as more police and ambulances came to the scene.'
Another said: 'I saw the girls standing there and I was going to go over and say "Are you all right?" because I thought it must have all just been a terrible accident. 'I'm glad I didn't now.'
But contrast that first (albeit mistaken) impulse with the next story, that of the driver who hit a child in the road:
A shocked driver was forced to flee an angry mob who turned on him as he tried to help a dying toddler he had accidentally knocked down in his car.I know which attitude I prefer to see in this country, even if it did turn out to be a wrong asumption...
The 45-year old motorist stopped his silver estate after it struck three-year-old Harley Huetson who was playing on a scooter in the road.
But as the unnamed driver tried to help resuscitate Harley, angry locals confronted the man and began pushing and jostling him on the street.
They began hurling abuse and even smashed his car windows.
Yes, difficult to help people sometimes isn’t it. I smashed the rear window of a car that had ploughed into the back of another waiting at a level crossing. The car in front was empty of people as I arrived and clear of the tracks but the vehicle that caused the accident had a man slumped at the wheel with its doors locked. I was not going to do anything I knew I couldn't, it transpired the man had suffered an fit an this is why he had not stopped. His injuries were thankfully slight but he was chocking on his tongue, blood and vomit.
ReplyDeleteEveryone survived. Insurance repaired for the damage to stuff. All ended well.
Are you surprised when I say that several people tried to stop me helping the unconscious man by smashing a window in his car to get access? The police even questioned me by the side of the road. I must add I only started to act as soon as I knew the emergency services were on route.
Regardless of the joy rider’s crimes I still would have helped them safely into the custody of the authorities. I’m not a policeman or a judge, thankfully.
Mike, you stood out from the collective. This is dangerous behaviour, though it may have saved the man's life (I don't know enough about the incident to say whether he would have lived anyway).
ReplyDeleteThis country is full of people who are simply unable to think in a way which distinguishes them from the herd, and worse, they will actively seek to prevent you from doing so as well. Sadly, quite a few of them wear uniform.
Even fifteen years ago this would have seemed absurd, yet something very wrong has happened to this country in that time. It isn't universal, but it is growing.
He probably would have lived. It is my upbringing that drives me to protect life first, ask questions later.
ReplyDeleteStanding out from the heard is not dangerous. It is what makes me beautifully different. I have been questioned about my forthright behaviour on a number of occasions, pretty much always with the prejudice that I have done something wrong.
Some of us are sheep and some are not.
"Are you surprised when I say that several people tried to stop me helping the unconscious man by smashing a window in his car to get access?"
ReplyDeleteSadly, no...
"This country is full of people who are simply unable to think in a way which distinguishes them from the herd..."
Yes, and an education/entertainment system that seems to be encouraging more and more of this.
"Some of us are sheep and some are not."
Exactly! We'll know we are in trouble when the numbers of the former begin to greatly outweigh the latter...
'We'll know we are in trouble when the numbers of the former begin to greatly outweigh the latter...'
ReplyDeleteWe there is no we, you dumped me remember........
This man is not a sheep:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8227162.stm
a sheep? is that English? Some sheep, a sh....
Surely its some sheeps and a sheep?