Here’s the scenario:
You’re walking along and you see a figure lying on the ground, all beat up, and bleeding profusely.
You recognise the guy as a well-known paedophile. He was sent to prison for sexually molesting and raping four young children. He’s served his time, and now he’s out and trying to live a normal life in your neighbourhood.You can see he’s in bad shape, and needs urgent medical attention.
What do you do? Do you help him, and call for assistance, or do you simply walk by, feeling justified in doing so, because he’s a damn paedo who deserves what he gets?
What would you do?
Angelia Sparrow
December 22
12:57 am
I suppose opening an artery and putting him out of our misery is out of the question?
Sparky
December 22
1:17 am
Get him medical help.
He’s a human being in dire need of help. That’s enough. I’m not going to decide who is worthy to live and who is worthy to die. And I’m not going to let someone – ANYONE – die when I could save them
Eve Vaughn
December 22
1:57 am
I would call for medical assistance, for the simple fact that they are human beings, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do much else.
Maddie
December 22
2:29 am
I would call 911 and wait with him until help came.
That is how my mother raised me.
Las
December 22
3:11 am
I would call 911 and I might even try to help him myself. First, he’s a human being. Second, I don’t have enough faith in our justice system to automatically assume that conviction=guilty, and while I’ll obviously keep my guard up if a convicted sex offender moved into my neighborhood, it won’t be enough to make him treat him like shit either.
Now, if he had molested ME when I was a child, or he had done it to children close to me and I knew for a fact that he was guilty, then I might not even bother to make that phone call.
Emmy
December 22
6:59 am
This one is hard, particularly in light of a California Supreme Court ruling last week. A person who was pulled from a car wrapped around a pole sued the person who tried to save her life, saying that removing her from a car that was in danger of catching fire caused worse injuries. Most states, including California, have Good Samaritan laws, but many many people who tried to do the right thing have been sued.
As a healthcare provider, Good Samaritan laws do not apply to me, and I absolutely can be sued for any treatment I give. And the kicker is that because I helped someone outside of a hospital setting, my malpractice insurance won’t cover me, so I’m on the hook for whatever the jury may decide to give.
Therefore, I’d call 911, give the location of the person, and keep on moving. I have a child to support.
Scott
December 22
11:27 am
Like other have said, I too would call 911, probably stick around until help came, but wouldn’t do anything else.
Alexandra
December 22
7:44 pm
I’d call 911. Would I try to ease his pain? Probably not. Even if he wasn’t a child molester, I wouldn’t attempt to render medical assistance because a) I know jack except how to use a band aid, b) I don’t want his blood on me, and c) the recent ruling about good Samaritans now means I will now *always* put my protection and safety above someone else’s because I don’t want to be sued for a good deed.
SamG
December 22
11:49 pm
I have to go with ‘call 911, then wait until help shows’. I also know very little first aide and may do more harm than good.
Tough question though. Hard to see helping a pedophile. There is also the ‘paid his debt’ and deserves a 2nd chance. Though, from what I understand, that drive is close to impossible to drown out/ignore.
Sam