child bundled into a car - what do you do?

[webb3201]

Blah, another one of these. I'll copy and paste my response to the other topics about the same thing:

Everyone draws their own line somewhere. My personal opinion on helping a 3rd person that is not a part of my family is this:

I will never place myself in harms way to help a 3rd person unless they are literally about to die in front me.


See a screaming kid being dragged into a car by an adult? You are darned sure it's a kidnapping, you need to save them!

Guess what... You just drew your handgun on the kid's father. The child actually has a mental issue that causes them to have angry outbursts. The parent is just trying to get them out of public until they calm down.


Hear a husband next door yelling and screaming at his wife, and thought you heard things being thrown? You are darned sure the wife is in immediate danger and about to get a severe beating, and there's no time for the cops to get there!

Guess what... You come through their door, draw your gun and order the husband to the floor, but the wife freaks out and forces you out the door and calls the police on YOU! She may have a loser husband that beats her every chance he gets, but it's HER loser husband. She explains away the bruises and presses charges on you instead. Think it would never happen? Just watch Cops.


I could type 50 more scenarios here, but the bottom line is in every single one, you lose.

It is not your job, nor your responsibility, to save others. Please by stingy with who you decide you need to save. It will keep you out of jail.

Excellent advice!

-geo

thirded (fourthed) - we are not LEO, but we can be witnesses. As a father of three, I have had many incidents of kid meltdowns that could have been interpreted incorrectly. The cell phone is the response of choice if you ever find your way into the a situation like this.

[Frost]

The Dangers of Intervention

[Purplehood]

The Dangers of Intervention

That was an excellent and informative read.

[joe817]

The Dangers of Intervention

Wow! What an incredible read. Thank you Frost for posting. Extremely informative.

[thorkyl]

Mr. Marshall's article was a good read.

However this thread also brings to mind a case a few years back.

CHL driving home sees a man beating a woman on the side of the road next to a car.
He made the quick u-turn, got out of his car, shouted for the man to stop.
The man refused, the CHL fired one shot seriously injuring the man.

Upon investigation...

The man had stopped at the gas station and was putting air in a tire when the woman jumped into the car and drove off with his toddler kids in the car.

The woman jumped the curb and got stuck on the curb down the block where the owner and dad of the kids caught up with the woman and proceeded to give he a good old fashion what for.

The woman had just robbed the gas station he was filling his tire at.

Sometimes you do what you truly believe is right when you are wrong.

The CHL was no billed and the father did not file criminal charges or sue him.

So for me, I would do the best witness thing and intervene only if it is the last possible choice.

[Purplehood]

Don't we live in a wonderful world?

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

Now, we must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men.



All it takes is a question. "Is everything ok?"

If you dont feel good about their answer then get descriptions, plate #s and whatnot and call the cops.

If you ask and you are threatened then do what you have to do to protect yourself.