Good Samaritian Laws?

[GHook93]

javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2007/05/13/dennis.mi.91.year.old.beaten.wdiv','2009/05/12');

Hopefully this weblink comes up, becauses it shocking (if not go to the CNN website and click on "old man beaten why people watch"). The only way to explain it. All I could think of when I saw this was Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine watching the fat guy get car-jacked in the Siefeld Series Finally.

All these people watched as a youth car-jacker brutally beats a 91 year old man. There was more than enough time for the people to react, but they did nothing.

The question is, would it be better for a good samaritian law to be in place to hold these guys liable to siting idle or is it better not to hold people to any standard whatsoever, meaning we have a right to be assholes?

[CoffeeSaint]

I think we do have the right to be a-holes -- but I also think the cops should stand by and watch as some other people beat the snot out of anyone who stands by and does nothing during a crime, especially a violent one.

[Jack]

The Good Samaritan laws I've heard about aren't so much geared toward forcing bystanders to get involved as they are intended to indemnify anyone who does offer assistance. Say you provide CPR to someone and they die anyway. G.S. laws say you can't be held liable for their death just because you attempted to provide aid.
I don't know as how the law can compel bystanders to get involved.

[jose]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...396678,00.html

[brien]

G.S. laws say you can't be held liable for their death just because you attempted to provide aid. I don't know as how the law can compel bystanders to get involved.

Ish is spot on. Can't force anyone to endanger themselves. Many people carry cell phones and they can immediately be used to call police. Police response time is another matter. Even myself, as one who carries firearms, would not choose to get involved because it is not my duty or obligation to protect another, only myself.

In fact, if I got involved, I don't think a GS law would exonnerate me from harming the perp with a firearm. Why should I risk it? There are people who are so "anti -gun" that if I shot the perp, a grand jury just may hang me for it, because indeed there maybe laws against my personal involvement resulting in the harm of the perp. It could be interpreted that I was "looking for trouble" by getting involved if I shot him, and I could appear as a vigilante. No thanks. None of my business, so I will stay out of personal involvement here, other than reporting the crime in progress.. The best course of involvement is perhaps a quick call to 911.

[ZNFYRH]

Agree with Ish and brien, and I know from experience.

The Seinfeld episode got it wrong.

Good Samaritan laws are there to require that you provide assistance to those in trouble. But you do not have to actively endanger yourself.

[GHook93]

Quote by: jose http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...396678,00.html

Of course it is always back to hating on Jews for you Jose!

[GHook93]

Quote by: brien Ish is spot on. Can't force anyone to endanger themselves. Many people carry cell phones and they can immediately be used to call police. Police response time is another matter. Even myself, as one who carries firearms, would not choose to get involved because it is not my duty or obligation to protect another, only myself. In fact, if I got involved, I don't think a GS law would exonnerate me from harming the perp with a firearm. Why should I risk it? There are people who are so "anti -gun" that if I shot the perp, a grand jury just may hang me for it, because indeed there maybe laws against my personal involvement resulting in the harm of the perp. It could be interpreted that I was "looking for trouble" by getting involved if I shot him, and I could appear as a vigilante. No thanks. None of my business, so I will stay out of personal involvement here, other than reporting the crime in progress.. The best course of involvement is perhaps a quick call to 911.

Rules of self-defense of others:
You can use deadly for to help others, if you or the other person is threaten with death or serious injury. So you might fit. This Punk was full on hitting this poor old man. This violence might fit.

[brien]

Quote by: GHook93 Rules of self-defense of others: You can use deadly for to help others, if you or the other person is threaten with death or serious injury. So you might fit. This Punk was full on hitting this poor old man. This violence might fit.

Even if I thought it may fit, I wouldn't do it. It isn't my place to step into the role of law enforcement. I know it sounds cruel, but unless I am directly threatened, I am remaining on the sidelines.

[jose]

Quote by: GHook93 Of course it is always back to hating on Jews for you Jose!

well of course i have no way of knowing the religion of those people driving past a person run over by a truck, but shurely a good Samaritan would have helped

the lawyer then asks Jesus to tell him who his neighbor is, Jesus responds with a parable about a man who was attacked and robbed and left to die by the side of a road. Later, a rabbi saw the stricken figure and avoided him, presumably in order to maintain ritual purity. Similarly, a Levite saw the man and ignored him as well. Then a Samaritan passed by, and, despite the mutual antipathy between Samaritans and the Jewish population, he immediately rendered assistance by giving him first aid and taking him to an inn to recover while promising to cover the expenses. He gives the innkeeper two denarii, silver coins equal to an entire day's wages for an average laborer. At the conclusion of the story, Jesus asks the lawyer, of the three passers-by, who was the stricken man's neighbour? The lawyer is apparently unwilling to say, "The Samaritan," so he responds, "The one who helped him." Jesus responds with "Go and do the same." So a "neighbor" is anyone who needs your love and help. Jesus has turned the attention away from the question "To whom do I owe an obligation?" and to the question, "To whom do I feel compassion?" this shows when Jesus is pointing out the nature, or subject, of love, not the object of it.

Parable of the Good Samaritan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: brien Even if I thought it may fit, I wouldn't do it. It isn't my place to step into the role of law enforcement. I know it sounds cruel, but unless I am directly threatened, I am remaining on the sidelines.

Not only that, but you cannoit always just walk up, and accurately assess the situation.


I know I've had opportuinities to be the good guy, only to find later the the person getting the whoopin deserved all that they got, and more.

[GHook93]

Quote by: brien Even if I thought it may fit, I wouldn't do it. It isn't my place to step into the role of law enforcement. I know it sounds cruel, but unless I am directly threatened, I am remaining on the sidelines.

Who says you have to shoot or do anything violent. If one of those guys could have yell, "Hey what are you doing." "Someone get the cops." Etc. Then maybe the guy would have fleed.

[GHook93]

Quote by: Milton Bradley Not only that, but you cannoit always just walk up, and accurately assess the situation. I know I've had opportuinities to be the good guy, only to find later the the person getting the whoopin deserved all that they got, and more.

It all comes down to reasonablness!

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: GHook93 It all comes down to reasonablness!

Thats just my point. Somebody who just happens onto a situation is rarely in a position to accurately assess the situation.


Who is to say you can determine what is "reasonable" if you don't know what preceeded the act you are witnessing?