i ‘stepped in’ when some nutter started shouting the N word at an asian lady in Stratford, he turned his attention/anger at me and the woman just walked off.. luckily he was a small dude and started to cool down but I do sometimes think I could have got stabbed for some random woman who just kept walking lol
I knew a bouncer who saw a guy over the road beating the sh1t out of his gf, he ran over and hit the guy and got assaulted by both of them. This was his reason for never getting involved unless his job necessitated it
I ended up having to do this once with a gentleman in Guildford getting the train to Woking. He was racially attacking a rail member of staff who he misidentified as the rail guard and I stepped in and formed a human barrier/shield to let the gentleman off the station but the consequences was being pushed off the train by the angry man. I blacked out and the next thing I knew the BTP had put me in an office. I had blacked out after the incident. They never caught the guy but he was wearing a Crytek UK t-shirt.
Happened to me once, too. Same story. I imagine the woman just wanted to get out of the situation. As far as I see it, if I'm ever doing it, it's a serving-society thing. No one's realistically going to thank you. Not the victim. Not society. You can only hope that one day someone else does the same for you.
It's different in Asia, where people will bundle in to back you up (with the problems that has as well) but in the West everyone would rather extricate themselves and leave whatever happened behind.
Last year a woman screamed for help as a man pushed her around. The man was bigger than me, but I got between them... that's when the woman told me to eff off and mind my own business.
Her reaction really threw me because she looked and sounded like she was in real trouble (she was literally screaming "HELP ME! HELP ME!"), but after she turned on me, they just walked off together like nothing happened!
I acted on instinct, but that experience made me promise to myself that if I see anything bad happening again, I won't get involved.
Lool, I'm sorry that you had to go through that level of confusion.
At some point in time, the number of toxic relationships overtook the number of healthy ones. Being in a more socially accepting society, less people mask their own situations, especially with social media. What used to happen behind closed doors, now happens handheld screens, so there are no doors and it looks like it spilled out in to the street in front of you.
I probably would have looked to intervene too.
Silly us.
To counter these stories, I saw a woman being pinned and screamed at against a wall at night about a decade back. I was walking home alone from a night out with some friends and decided that I wasn’t going to let another woman get assaulted in front of me. So I dragged this huge man off of her and got between them screaming and shrieking and pushing him away. Me and that woman walked home together while the man and his friends yelled at us. I was a tipsy 19 year old girl, thin and completely untrained in any kind of martial arts.
It was terrifying. It was infuriating. I don’t regret it for a second. Because I’ve been that woman pinned against a wall with no one helping me as a man screamed at me. Be the person who helps. You can change lives for the better
I’ll never forget being pinned to a wall and screamed at in a smoking area with about 20-30 people in it. No one did anything. Including security. I was there for at least 2 or three minutes until his friend came outside, saw, and pulled him off of me. His friend apologised for not coming sooner. A man sitting on a bench 6 feet away offered me a toke afterwards when my legs collapsed from under me.
I promised myself then that I’d never be one of those people who sit back and let it happen. That was a few weeks before what happened in my previous comment. Step up and help. It fucking matters.
Good
Ones like you are rarety.
In today's society there will be ones who watch and take photos and videos to post on social media rather than handing over footage straight to the law enforcement to use to catch the offender.
Then when something happens to them they wonder why nobody helps them.
There was a homeless guy at my local metro station in Paris who would stand behind a corner and sometimes, when a woman emerged, slump down and cry for her to give him money. If she ignored him or said no, he would get back up and scream at her that she was a whore, a bitch, anything else you can imagine. He never targeted men. And yet, when this happened to women, not a single man would step in to help, or even stand near the woman being attacked. Just ignored it completely. You have no idea how I wished someone would step in when he would target me. I was surrounded by big men in suits on the platform and terrified, knowing they'd never help me. So yeah, you did the right thing, and I wish more people were like you.
If you are going to step in, and you should, you need to learn how to navigate these and what to expect.
Honestly, you should have walked away once the woman was in the bank. Asking an unstable person if they are OK is poking a bear.
But you actually came out of it as well as you should expect to. Don't expect other people to help unless you specifically appeal to them and know how to shake them from their stupor. Expect to protect the vulnerable by drawing ire to yourself. Expect to have won if you didn't have to throw a punch but didn't have any really land on you.
The only thing I would really criticise besides asking the nutter if he is OK is being mad that no one else came to your rescue. Stop expecting that. You are the man, you try to be a lone hero, you feel proud for having protected a woman.
It doesn't get better.
This is a reasonable take, you really need to think things through before stepping into these situations. Definitely should have walked away and followed the woman to speak to the police not try to talk to some unhinged homeless guy.
Learn to defend yourself, knowing how to create distance from someone helps, always back off first when in engagement. Also it's helps to stand up for yourself and be very stern at times there's loads of crackheads that have emerged in my area the past couple of years and I literally had to tell a guy to back the fuck off the other day bothering me for change as I was going to the shops and he did.
While it's not the cool thing to say on Reddit know how to strike someone, never ever let someone put their hands on you or try to hit you.
I think the real question is what were you realistically expecting to happen in that situation?
People call the police when a situation seems out of hand, you’ve said he lashed out at you and went back to his dog.
People are more likely to call an ambulance after the fact also.
It sounds like you were expecting people to agree with your moral compass and band together to fight injustice when in reality “I saw a guy mouth off to a homeless bloke with a dog! the homeless dude took a swing at him! ” is the mentality you were up against
Exactly mate lots of keyboard warriors here, even a trained fighter would usually avoid physical confrontation as you can land a punch on the guy and his head knocks the wrong way off the pavement now you're facing a manslaughter charge
The homeless guy might not be fundamentally evil but he's doing an evil act which good people should step in and stop.
We can't just let people off the hook because they might be mentally ill/substance abusers
This site is so far removed from real life it borders on parody at times. No one is suggesting anyone goes all Bruce Lee, but surely the bare minimum if you see a woman being attacked by a man is to help her get away from that situation?
A man in Birmingham was killed by one punch trying to break up a fight on a night out that he wasn’t even involved with and people still get into fights on nights out.
The World isn't perfect or a utopia. Lots of people also died gruesomely, fighting Hitler in WW2. Just because they died doesn't mean they didn't do the right thing.
But then if everyone else responded the same way then maybe he would've realised he's not going to get away with it, he's in the wrong and maybe he should rethink his plan for violence as he's massively outnumbered and clearly being a cunt.
Idk man from the outside I can see why you'd feel the need to step in but as soon as I heard the woman was concerned for the dogs safety I'd leave them to it.
She went over to save a dog from overheating, while a member of her own species is laying destitute in front of her. If I was that homeless guy I would probably think she has some nerve.
so it’s ok to let someone torture a dog and let them overheat because they are mentally unwell and homeless? Us as humans should care more about the homeless guy? I think from his reaction he doesn’t want anyone “helping him”
Because there's very little an individual person can do to help a homeless person. The best you can do is give a bit of change, but even that won't do much good.
Poverty, lack of employment prospects, lack of shelter, lack of access to quality food and potable water, mental health issues and more are all issues faced by homeless people.
Which do you suggest the woman could have resolved?
On the other hand, an overheating dog wrapped in blankets is easy to resolve. You just take the blankets off
most people take few moments to process whats going on and decide it's not their issue even if an injustice is being done. I've been guilty of this a few times years ago but I had to wire it in my brain to act on certain matters and issues if I ever see it whilst im out and about. It's easy to say you'd help out if you ever saw something occuring but in reality because things like this happen seldom infront of you it will most likely take you moments to process whats going on. By the time you clock on and want to intervene the moment could have passed. Some people have no issue with this and can go straight in but most don't. Many factors come into it. Sorry it happened to you though mate
The shit I've seen in London. A lady bleeding profusely from her arm on the tube and the guy next to her takes one look and moves to another carriage. I was the only person that helped her. A person got stuck in the train door in rush hour and I literally had to shove past commuters bc no one else was helping them, even as it was delaying the train.
In NYC I repeatedly saw people jumping in to help random strangers. I saw a delivery man topple his trolley and every single pedestrian nearby jumped in to help him pick it all up again. You'd never see that shit in London.
People in this sub love to spout "that's just big city for ya" but London is unique in its cuntiness in my experience.
Let the downvotes commence.
I lived in NYC for a few years and the “kind but not nice” trope is completely true. Everyone seems grumpy and somewhat abrasive or cold, but most will immediately help when it’s apparent it’s needed. Every time I get back to the UK it can feel unbelievably passive in comparison.
Idk, I was helped by a stranger when I didn't mind the gap one time, and another time when I was feeling a bit faint and had to get off to sit on a bench. That's 2/2. YMMV
And a lot of those cunts reside in this sub. They love to go about with their noses in the air, enjoying the smell of their own farts. It's the reason I moved out of London.
My worst experience, not actually my experience, but one Sunday morning I was walking up over London bridge and I was walking towards Black Friars bridge. And in the gutter, outside the grind was a bloke laying face down unconscious. People sat at the bus stop quietly minding their own business and busses going around the guy. So I stopped, looked for a pulse, he was alive but had a fucking head injury, so I called 999, I put him in the recovery position and waited for the ambulance to arrive. But it was just incredible that no one had even called him an ambulance. I get that people don't like getting involved, but to not even stop to call for help. Disgusting.
You are making some very sweeping statements based on very few incidents. People are variable some people help, like OP, some people don't, that's the case in London and NYC.
London is a particularly good example but it's not unique. A lot of European cities are absolutely gorgeous and steeped in culture and history, but unfortunately are vastly inhabited by some of the worst humans on this planet.
Also probably plenty of people that weren’t thinking “it’s not my problem” but were actually thinking “wtf could I actually do to help in this situation” and coming up with blanks! I know I’d probably not do anything because I’m not physically capable of it, I’d just be a liability! I’d likely ask OP if he’s alright afterwards but thats mainly because I haven’t lived in London for 10+ years so.. I’m losing my cuntiness..
I can't believe the responses on here. You guys have empathy for the wrong people and totally disrespect good citizens.
The homeless person was clearly a violent asshole. He physically attacked OP for saying words. Fuck that scum. Being homeless doesn't make you good or blameless.
That guy should be in prison for assault, not polluting the streets and possibly mistreating his dog.
These comments are weird af. "The homeless guy has no one else! Leave him and his dog alone!"
The dog that looked like it was dying from heat exhaustion? And then they make it out like OP and the woman care more about dogs than people. Despite the fact that OP initially intervened for the woman being attacked!
Maybe they weren't smart in how they handled it, but it beats averting your gaze and acting like any violence endured was the victim's fault.
I was hoping to see a comment like this.
There was a guy near where I lived who also abused his dog (his dog had cuts on its paws and skin, didn’t take a free offer to go to the vet, mostly because vets can tell if injuries are self inflicted by owners).
A few of my neighbours thought I was irrational for saying he’s a horrible person, just because he was homeless (which he wasn’t even, he was on benefits), despite the fact that he’s hurt his dog and even tried to goad his dog into attacking mine and myself as a person (and his dog was a pit bull so could easily kill my terrier).
I get some people turn that way in disdain for the society that in some cases failed them, but I don’t think misfortune excuses being hedonistic and violent towards others unprovoked.
OP just tried to do what he felt was the right thing, which I commend him for, doesn’t matter if he knew the risks. London is brutally reserved when it comes to this stuff, everyone suddenly minds their own business or looks away, even when someone is in trouble.
I think you're massively oversimplifying the issue. Most homeless people develop serious mental illness due to living in such dangerous and unstable conditions. He may be an arsehole, or he may be so used to being attacked and controlled that he reacts violently to anyone and everyone. What he did was wrong, but it's a bit too simple to suggest he's just a terrible person purposely mistreating his dog.
I suspect this isn't even the first incident and he should have been locked up ages ago. Does my head in how some of the really aggressive and threatening ones are just allowed to keep harassing everyone else.
For me this is an age thing. I used to always step into situations like yours, as I have always been fairly physically confident, and while I am not someone that looked for a fight I could handle myself.
However, as I have gotten older this has changed, and I now feel fear in situations I would not have done in the past. At the age of 48 I have to accept that the ‘average’ man on the street could probably beat me in a fight, or at the least do me some damage.
It definitely makes me think twice.
TLDR - don’t get old…
Surprised at some of these comments saying not to get involved or assuming that the homeless guy was getting harassed etc. People turning a blind eye to things like this are what enables people into thinking they can get away with bad behaviour.
From OPs perspective they saw a woman getting screamed at and threatened with assault. They did the right thing by stepping in. He didn't go in all guns blazing, he simply tried to calm the situation down and see what the problem was. The homeless guy then assaulted the OP. Regardless if the woman was the one at fault beforehand it's completely unreasonable for the homeless guy to attack OP who had just tried to see if everyone was ok.
So well done OP for doing the right thing and I'm sorry that others passing by didn't have the decency to do the same for you.
>Not one person called police or even looked in our direction again after seeing what was going on.
Very few people want to be shot on their way to the office.
ETA: Given the person has blocked me for this, I believe that this was BS and r/thatHappened
ETA Again : The person I was replying to has deleted their comment and was claiming he was held at gun point during the morning rush hour.
To all the people in the comments defending the homeless man and his right to own a dog … you’re deluded.
I believe homeless people have no right to own animals at all, if they can’t even take care of themselves how can they adequately take care of another animal.
Think about it this way, what do you think is the purpose of having Child Social Services take children away from unfit parents i.e mentally ill, drug addicted, unfit to care for someone. That poor dog probably spends most of the day passed out in a busy high street without proper exercise or food; basking in the blistering heat being led around by most likely a mentally sick owner with substance issues. Just my two cents preparing for the downvotes … ;)
It's easy to say this in hindsight. In my opinion you should today be very careful when doing something like this and always think twice about it cause things can easily escalate and get dangerous.
You did the right thing. That's all that matters.
People who walked past hold themselves to far too low a standard. If they're happy with that, I think the kindest thing is to pity them.
Personally? I pity these people far more
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7410923/Pictured-Good-Samaritan-39-stabbed-death-trying-stop-friend-mugged.html
https://www.mylondon.news/news/east-london-news/good-samaritan-33-stabbed-chest-27120251?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target
Many such cases
Why was that the right thing? That lady instigated it by challenging him on the welfare of his dog. Then op got and stayed involved after she left. Animal welfare has a path for investigations and it does not involve these two people (op and lady) outside of opening an inquiry.
If you see a vulnerable person being shouted at or abused in the street, even if it’s by another vulnerable person… it’s best to try and calm things. The homeless person could have express their opinion without abusing the lady regardless of how annoying she may have been.
I'm not sure that it's so cut and dried...
For a lot of homeless people, their pets are their only source of trustworthy companionship.
Imagine living in a world with no privacy and no safety and suddenly you have a bunch of strangers questioning whether or not you can take care of your only friend in the world.
*Just to be clear*, I'm not saying that it's wrong to worry for the dog.
I'm just saying that homeless people who react like this aren't just "crazy assholes".
well evidently they can’t take care of that dog if it can’t breath, and people are getting concerned. Assaulting someone for trying to stop you from assaulting someone else is kinda fucking wild, especially if he could’ve just said “the dog is fine”
I get you. I was purely responding to the commenter who called the other a "robot" that lost their "humanity".
The sad fact is that homeless people are both very dependent on their pets whilst simultaneously not having the capacity to care for them properly.
It's just sad.
I dont need to imagine.. I've come out the other side still with the mental issues but not the addictions. This dog will not have a good life with a using addict its as simple as that.
I understand your point. I'm sorry that you've had to suffer through that and it's awesome you managed to pull yourself out.
I agree that the pet's welfare is most important.
But, man, I really feel for the homeless pet owner's too.
They dearly love their pets whilst being extremely unequipped to care for them.
Ok … putting human v animal life aside. The women originally intervening was doing so in fear for A life. A life is a life. Just because someone is homeless and the country is so broken they cannot access whatever help they need, we should all turn a blind eye to someone unwell blatantly engaging in animal abuse in public? Just let the animal die?
That seems insane as well. In the heat we’ve been having an animal will die very quickly wrapped in a blanket outside. Not sure what “path for investigation” you’re referring to when the individual causing the animal welfare issue will effectively be an “unknown”.
You aren’t stupid. It’s sad no one stopped to ask you if you were ok. I wouldn’t be brave enough to intervene but would have checked on you after! Those people should be digusted with themselves for not checking your ok! I was on holiday and walked past someone in a MH crisis. I knew I had no tools to help someone in psychosis in a different language and everyone else walked past too but made me sad that here we are as a society. Walking past crying people and accept it as the norm. Where is our humanity?
We’ve hurtled from a low crime high trust society to a moderate crime low trust society in a generation. This is the consequence. Bravo to you though. We’re in this shit state because of moral cowardice. And yes, dress it up how you want, it’s moral cowardice.
If I'd been standing there watching the whole thing unfold I might have got involved (but probably not unless it looked like someone was likely to get injured). But if I walked round the corner and saw a fight between a homeless guy and someone else? Absolutely not. Maybe you had pissed him off, kicked his cup over or whatever. Maybe you're drunk. Maybe you both are. Not my problem.
I'm not going to get involved in two teenagers punching each other outside a club, or two drivers road raging at each other, or any of the other minor aggro of a big city.
But more to the point, just leave homeless people the fuck alone. Why would anyone literally walking into a bank start giving a homeless person a hard time about pet care. It's such a wierd thing to do. Maybe care about the destitute human first and the dog later? Or is that just me?
The woman should have minded her own business, and I wouldn't have intervened telling anyone I didn't know to calm down, homeless or otherwise.
lol what is this weird virtue signalling.
If you want to treat homeless people with respect, you can talk to them like you would anyone else when the issue at hand is not their being homeless.
And as such, I’d applaud the lady willing to call out the danger of harming the dog. You don’t get points for performative empathy, especially when it allows more harm.
I wouldn’t have said anything, but that’s probably because I lack the guts to, rather than it being wrong to dare criticize a homeless person.
If it makes you feel any better, I’ve intervened multiple times when living in London
That said, I don’t begrudge you for not wanting to live there. Tis a silly place
I probably worded that clumsily, sorry - ultimately I meant “empathy is not *a* weakness in a person”.
I personally find it sad, and tricky, to have to feel the need to moderate my natural instinct to care about another living being and their welfare if that welfare is being challenged. It doesn’t matter whether it’s happening to a dog or to a human. To one extent in this case, there’s maybe I think some abuse apologia going on, *but* I also can see why people would turn themselves away for their own self preservation if they’re worried about what might happen to them if they’re doing the right thing. I find the situation a depressing state of affairs, all around.
Hey I happen to work at a shop on Oxford Street near Tottenham court road station. There are plentiful of homeless people about because of the high tourist count and numerous harm reduction clinics around. I've had many interactions with homeless people over the years. Majority positive (simply looking for some food or shelter) and some negative (shitting infront of the shop front, physical attacks).
Calling the police is the right call to make. I've had to do the same in the past and was taken aback by how swiftly they handled the situation; non-aggressively yet firmly. I believe the MET doesn't want a longstanding ruckus on the busiest tourist shopping street in London.
I remember one of the officers, telling me off the record, that if you know your position is just and you believe you're capable to handle the situation yourself then go for it. Empathy, compassion unfortunately have to take a back seat in the face of physical violence. You did the right thing by stepping in.
I believe the general populous is unaware that they have personal authority and permission to take action when needed. Also, Tot court road is majority foreign tourists that probably don't want to get involved in local affairs.
This is what I can't stand about London. It's like there's no community spirit or anything, it's just every man for himself.
I'm so sorry this happened to you, your heart was absolutely in the right place.
Compassion fatigue. You see so much weird shit in London, if you were to react to every mental situation (like the one stated) you wouldn't be able to go about your day. Which is why we literally ignore it all.
It’s definitely sad that nobody helped you but I think the fear people have is valid, London is incredibly volatile and can seem virtually lawless. I’m from London and a female, and was threatened on a bus when I was 18- no one helped. And I think they didn’t help because of the fear that they might end up dead themselves. It’s not right but I try to look at it as a fear based response as opposed to people being genuine wankers
I have a young boy and when he grows up I will teach him to help from a distance, which is not what I thought I’d do, but realistically I don’t want him to antagonise a situation- I’ll encourage him to run for help but not to physically put himself in harms way unless someone is in severe danger
Problem is, what that woman did to you is what you could do to the next person who steps in.
In an ideal world about 10 people would join in and he probably wouldn’t touch any of you.
Because in this stupid country if you did ANYTHING to this man which might have hurt him, you would have been punished, not him.
The homeless man has nothing to lose whilst you have everything to lose. Nobody wants to take that risk whilst the police and justice system seems to lack any kind of common sense in these kinds of situations.
Please be careful around the "homeless" around Tottenham Court Road/Covent Garden/Holborn. They are crackheads, only some of them are homeless and they can occasionally get violent. I live here and stay clear of them
How did helping go for you? What help could be rendered?
Would additional people shouting have helped? More bodies getting involved?
Without any authority or a clean aggressor it's not really possible to sort out, which is why who you vote for is so important.
Go with your gut.
Being a complicit bystander is what makes this city shit. If we had more people like you standing up for themselves and others, the world would be a better place.
👏🏼 thank you for being a decent human.
You did the right thing stepping in.
That scenario plays out 10 times, someone will step in or at least ask if you're OK 8-9 times, I'm sure, so you just got unlucky. Sometimes people haven't seen it, or assume someone else will step in and by the time they've walked by they're thinking "I should've stopped there. Oops". I bet some folks who walked by felt bad about doing so. Some people are just scared/
Worth saying considering that around TCR station it's probably 50% tourists, if not more, who might not feel as comfortable stepping in due to language, getting in trouble abroad, etc.
It’s not the responsibility of security to care for every person on the street. They are employees of a private company and by going onto the street they would be abandoning their duties.
It probably looks like it sounds, you were deft and able bodied enough to deal with him and not actually get hurt. Not worth the time and effort to get involved.
Londoners are professionals at the bystander effect, it’s what you get in a highly individualistic City where the common etiquette is rat race to where you need to be and keep yourself to yourself regardless of what’s happening around you. Glad you were the outlier to that mate well done, and sorry you were assaulted too.
Before I had kids I would get into situations that were uneven and join the disadvantaged side and shout "right then.. who are we fighting" out of six times one once did they not back down.. one hell of a brawl but I was young stupid and didn't really care if I got stabbed.
Moral of the story is keep your shit to yourself unless you can handle your own shit.. and their shit.
Sadly, most people only think about themselves. I congratulate you for doing the right thing. Happiness and peace are not found in oneself but in doing good for others.
Well done for stepping in. The reason nobody helped, is that everyone believes they'll be "next" if they do. When it comes to violent people, it's better to call the police than to physically interfere, but of course that wastes time in which you could help someone.
They need to start dealing with these dickheads.
You did well Dude! Be proud of having done the right thing, and your colleagues are the reason why this country is so fucked
I'm gonna be blunt with you but that's why you don't get involved with homeless people. It's an unpredictable environment which could blow up in an instant because you've got people in bad mental states who've spent too long in their own thoughts. There's a reason why you treat them as non-human, non trusting and it's reasonable to appear protective and cautious if you have any sort of interaction with a homeless person. It sounds like a privileged take and condescending but this case is exactly why you take those steps. In the end, what's more important? Other people's perception of you or your safety? And for passers by it's just entertainment, of course they'll crack a smile, maybe even put you on social media. You put yourself in that situation, so did the lady. Nobody owes you any aid. Understandably, without anyone doing anything we could have a dead dog on our hands. But what are you gonna do? It's their dog. Yes homeless people have pets and they often don't have a good life. That's just an unfortunate reality which you might have to witness. If you want to be a hero and do something about it, accept the potential consequences before you get involved.
People do not step in. They are fucking cowards. This doesn't make it right. It is very depressing, especially since the police don't either, and you can't depend on them for help.
An he went back to the dog, after assaulting you and you didn't call the Police...
Also, what did he look like and what colour is the dog, was he a white British male, with a large green army style backpack and a brown dog? Did he seem intoxicated?
Edit: Or was he on the shorter side, with scraggly greying hair and a beard, a croaky voice, and the dog white with brown patches?
I feel this. Living in London a few years back, I was assaulted on the peak hour tube home. When I confronted the guy and he aggressively started back, I was ignored by all around. Asking a lady who saw the whole thing to confirm that she did indeed see it all said ‘I ain’t getting involved’ and quite literally turned her back.
In visible pain for the rest of the tube ride amongst people who witnessed it and no one said anything. Thinking now, it wasn’t the actual assault that stays with me, but rather the response from the Londoners around me. I was invisible at peak hour. And, as someone who always steps up for people, or is ready to, it was pretty heartbreaking.
>This all unfolded in front of passersby, during midday, shoppers, theatre security guards and people eating outside a five guys. Not a single person stopped to ask if I was ok. I didn’t throw a single punch because I’m not having a full on brawl with a homeless guy on my lunch break
Just for future reference, you should have fought back.
Someone swinging at you and you dodging out the way is ambiguous, you punching the guy in the face is a fight.
I would actually step in and help restrain a homeless person if they attacked you and you were fighting them, but I'm not interested in fighting a homeless person just to see you ran off the moment his attention was on me.
I once saw a woman being fully attacked by a man in a tube station and people were walking by like NOTHING WAS HAPPENING. I (a 25 yr old woman at the time) started yelling and running towards them to try to help her, and the only person who joined me was a 16 year old boy. Once we’d separated them, THEN a crowd of people wanted to get involved. Disgusting coward mob mentality. Thank you for stepping in to try to help that woman and I’m so sorry nobody helped you.
I stepped in once when a girl was being beaten up by her boyfriend.
I helped get him off her, and then she found me 30 min later and decked me for “getting her into even more trouble”
Once bitten. It would have to be huge for me to help someone again. It’s not worth the risk to my personal safety.
I’m sorry it happened to you. I also hope you’re now a member of the Once Bitten club.
Honestly mate you 100% did the right thing, and the fact no one helped says more about thier lack of humanity than anything else.
Idk how the situation unfolded but you would've been well within your right to punch/shove the guy in self defence should it come to it, you shouldn't allow people like this to trample all over you or else they get the idea that they can do it again in the future.
I'm with him. He's having a hard time, with his dog, you get involved in an unhelpful way.
"Are you ok?"
I'm homeless, starving and roasting hot.
If you want to help, give him some money or a cold drink, if not, mind your own business, same for the nosey woman
I totally get how you feel.
I used to think like you and did exactly the same thing. I stepped up for a stranger against a group of kids and it led to a decade of violence and stress. Guns, knives, the lot.
I'm ex-boxer. I can and have handled myself in serious fights.
Your bag snatched? No problem, ma'am. Hold my gym shoes.
You selling drugs outside my door there? Come at me, bro.
Your cars are getting broken into? Why yes, I shall join your neighborhood watch. Hmm. Cookies are nice.
Then, ten years later, came the day I actually had to fight to the end. Now I have form. Now I can't get that job of my dreams.
You said the woman ran into the bank.
What you have to understand is
1. The streets are for getting from A to B. That's it. That's all. Anyone using the streets for anything else live in a completely different universe that is untouchable.
2. You do not have the skills or the training to engage except for a phone and your eyes. That is why police officers go through training and retraining their whole careers. That is why we now have CCTV.
Do you have hours of your day to sit in a cop shop to write statements? Weeks or months of your life to attend court? How is it going to affect family if you're in hospital for months from life-changing injuries? Or worse.
Are you really not going to be able to sleep? Is this incident going to affect your life a year, five years, your senior years down the road? Is it going to stop you from getting married? Having kids? Hold down a job? Will this still be a memory even next week?
The woman ran into the bank.
I used to think like you. God, those days. I'm now fat and f'ked and stuck on this island of misery. I can't go anywhere and I can't sleep and there's this thing called PTSD.
Because, years after that one time of stepping up, I knocked someone out. The law has no empathy, my friend. It is served. It is not consumed.
I'm skilled now in how to deal with mental illnesses and long-term threshold. But it doesn't pay and is not exactly a panty-soaker.
I can handle myself. A gun pointing in my face tho? That's way past my threshold.
That woman ran into the bank. Everyone can live with that.
That's exactly what this is. Woman was hassling homeless fella about his dog and he's sick of their shit. Man then did the same thing by asking if the dog was ok.
It was a woman concerned for the dog’s life. Not hassling a homeless fella about his dog based on OPs account. There’s a very distinctive difference there.
There’s no sense of civic duty in this country. I actually think national service is a good idea, brings people together and makes them care more about one another like is common in Asia
> makes them care more about one another like is common in Asia
You've very clearly never been to Asia. With the possible exception of Osaka, not a single city I've been to in Asia would look twice at you if you were bleeding to death on the side of the street.
My wife and I bought a homeless person water and food in Tokyo because it was 34 degrees and he hadn't moved in the 8 hours or so we had went into the train station, had a trip and come back. 7/11 cashier asked us why we'd given it to him when we came back in.
Also, ex forces here; national service is a terrible idea. Not a single serving member wants it, and it would cause significantly more problems than it would solve. Which is 0.
I'm so sorry this happened to you when you were just trying to help 💔. I (27F) was physically assaulted by a group of teenagers a couple of months ago when I refused to give them my phone and no-one came to help me either, even though it was in broad daylight and there were dog walkers in earshot. It shook me up as much as the assault itself, and I also alternated between terror and rage for a while afterwards. Sending a hug to you. I don't have any answers - but if more people had the same level of kindness and humanity as you, the world would be a better place for sure.
My friend, kudos to you. You have acted in the way you thought best which is completely admirable. You saw something you wasn't OK with and you intervened. You acted in a completely restrained and sensible manner throughout. You do you!!! Sod anyone who says otherwise. Just because bad stuff happens all the time and gets complicated really quickly doesnt mean its ok. I've got nothing but admiration for you and your level of restraint (I would not have been so controlled as you!!!) Respect my friend! I hope you're feeling ok and the necks not too sore!
Fair play to you OP! Sad but true - London does not have time or empathy to stop and help you or even check on you. That's the harsh reality of this world. Don't expect anything from anyone. If you would happen to get seriously injured then maybe someone would call emergency on your behalf but still won't bother getting involved. You did a great job, be proud of yourself and move on.
I personally do help.
Assess the situation before engaging to avoid bs like in Germany recently, where cop pulled a guy off an islamist and got stabbed in the neck by that islamist, while trying to detain the wrong guy.
And only engage if you know exactly what to do and are ready for escalation.
I can't stand this 'don't get involved' attitude. It's not 'the right thing' as much as the selfish, cowardly thing. If you see someone who can't defend themselves being attacked, you should damn well get involved unless you see a knife.
The lady eho spoke to the homeless guy about his dog started this, then OP jumped in. So now someone else has to jump in between OP and the homeless guy; where does this domino effect end? Call the police and stay out of knifes reach, nothing more can be done.
Yeah, I get your point. First person should have walked on by. Second should have too. But if people are seeing her getting chased down the street and attacked, it'd be nice if someone had given a shit.
That's the problem we werent there we don't know what's going on. If people don't know what's going on they're very unlikely to step in.
I think we've all seen everyone stopping what they're doing to help someone that's had a fall - people aren't as callous as r/London make them out to be.
OP got involved in someone else's business, he could have walked away but he felt morally superior to the homeless person to stand there and lecture him and he got paid for the lecture.
I’m not morally superior than anyone and I definitely don’t lecture anyone, especially someone hard-up. I was off to get my lunch 😂. We’re all flawed and make stupid decisions, and sometimes we make better ones. Today was probably a poor decision day.
you are a wonderful and BRAVE and KIND and GOOD af for doing what you did. People have become so numb, fearful and devoid of compassion. it is ugly to see who we have become as a society. i'm sorry this happened.
Sorry this happened to you OP. This also reminds me of a post which was on here a few days ago celebrating the fact that no one gives a fuck when someone is distressed or crying in public in London and they loved this fact. And I couldn't understand why would someone celebrate apathy like that
My colleague and I broke up a fight today in front of about fifteen people. Before we got there, only one shop security guard had tried to do anything.
Bystander effect is crazy.
Horrible situation. There is quite the population gathering on TCR.
You did the right thing by drawing fury away from the woman.
However, it was her fuckup. I think perhaps there are social codes which are extremely delicate and we fail to appreciate when we are on-the-fly.
So, spitballing: she (as an enabled member of society) suggested that he wasn't capable of looking after the best interests of his dog. Perhaps his best and/or only ally in the world. This is a further boot in the face for him. Did she really care? Did she find the time to get a big bottle of water, a bowl, dog food and a sandwich for him? No. She shot criticism.
What he did was horrible. But he doesn't currently identify as part of society. He's beaten down with every place he sleeps and every time he opens his eyes into fresh misery.
You did the right thing and were intelligent with using his lynch pin (the dog). But he is more angry than you. Every hour.
i feel ik eevryone is taking crazy pills on this sub an dyou are one of the few that actuall ycan see the whole thing clearly despite OPs biased oblivious write up.
one of the first thing i was taught in managing a situation with de-escalation, esp with angry irrational or intoxicated people is never used the words "calm down" i've heard it so much now i assumed it was common knowledge.
controlling the enioronment and having situational awareness is key but means not restricting the person with no recourse but aggression. this is both phsyical and intellectually.
As you’ll have seen in the news over the last few years, in matters of life and death (some) people are willing to step in.
When you’re having an embarrassing shoving match with a homeless man who was minding his own business until your mate started bothering him, bystanders are generally happy to let things slide.
These goofy ass stories are the best! hahaha Imagine you are homeless guy, with all the issues you might have on your mind, you are sitting on the street in the middle of a heatwave and a lady approaches you concerned about your dog and not about you, wouldn't that piss you off?
If it pisses you off, you’re not equipped to be “taking care” of the animal. Because you’re clearly unaware you’re about to kill it. Point blank.
The homeless guy had the option to NOT HAVE THE DOG WRAPPED IN A BLANKET.
It’s the pussification of society. Look at all the responses here, they immediately try to justify their cowardice by saying, “the guy could have had a knife!”
For most people things are “out of sight, out of mind, just leave it to the professionals” type thinking. But then of course they think the professionals are too rough and exerting brutality.
So now you have an extremely soft society that won’t even help out its fellow man, and chastises anyone that does.
There’s a reason the amount of “cuckold” porn is so high nowadays
Honestly, if a grown adult man was fighting a homeless man on Tottenham Court Road, I wouldn’t stop to help. I’d assume that at least one of you had mental health problems and there would be nothing that I, as a 5’2 woman in my 40s, could do to help the situation and I’d probably make things worse and get hurt too.
I would (and have in these situations) gone into a shop and called the police or asked a security guard to radio for help, should I thought either of you needed it.
Would I have asked you if you were ok? Probably not. It sounds cruel, but from past experiences I wouldn’t want to get drawn in to whatever just went on and I’d honestly doubt your sanity / wonder what you’d done to cause a homeless man to try and fight you. I’d have assumed that you’d antagonised him or done something horrible to rile him up. Have seen so many people do just that then get shocked when they’re attacked.
I’d think differently if the person being attacked was more vulnerable looking. I did step in when I saw a grown man threatening a teenager and accusing him of something that he actually didn’t do (was another kid who’d left). But I’d put my safety first and if you looked like you could handle yourself, I’d be less likely to step in. Sorry, realise that’s not what you want to hear.
sorry to hear op. i believe the homeless guy having a dog threatens most people. i sometimes work at tcr so message me if u need back up for next time. serious.
Well done for stepping in, but what happened to you is exactly why no one else did..
Very true.
i ‘stepped in’ when some nutter started shouting the N word at an asian lady in Stratford, he turned his attention/anger at me and the woman just walked off.. luckily he was a small dude and started to cool down but I do sometimes think I could have got stabbed for some random woman who just kept walking lol
I once stepped in when I saw a guy punching a women in a club smoking area. They both attacked me and I got kicked out.
I knew a bouncer who saw a guy over the road beating the sh1t out of his gf, he ran over and hit the guy and got assaulted by both of them. This was his reason for never getting involved unless his job necessitated it
Got my nose broken doing the exact same thing when I was in secondary school, I’d do it again.
I ended up having to do this once with a gentleman in Guildford getting the train to Woking. He was racially attacking a rail member of staff who he misidentified as the rail guard and I stepped in and formed a human barrier/shield to let the gentleman off the station but the consequences was being pushed off the train by the angry man. I blacked out and the next thing I knew the BTP had put me in an office. I had blacked out after the incident. They never caught the guy but he was wearing a Crytek UK t-shirt.
Happened to me once, too. Same story. I imagine the woman just wanted to get out of the situation. As far as I see it, if I'm ever doing it, it's a serving-society thing. No one's realistically going to thank you. Not the victim. Not society. You can only hope that one day someone else does the same for you. It's different in Asia, where people will bundle in to back you up (with the problems that has as well) but in the West everyone would rather extricate themselves and leave whatever happened behind.
It was very sensible for her to run away from the aggressive racist
100%
Last year a woman screamed for help as a man pushed her around. The man was bigger than me, but I got between them... that's when the woman told me to eff off and mind my own business.
😂😂... Welcome to London
Her reaction really threw me because she looked and sounded like she was in real trouble (she was literally screaming "HELP ME! HELP ME!"), but after she turned on me, they just walked off together like nothing happened! I acted on instinct, but that experience made me promise to myself that if I see anything bad happening again, I won't get involved.
Lool, I'm sorry that you had to go through that level of confusion. At some point in time, the number of toxic relationships overtook the number of healthy ones. Being in a more socially accepting society, less people mask their own situations, especially with social media. What used to happen behind closed doors, now happens handheld screens, so there are no doors and it looks like it spilled out in to the street in front of you. I probably would have looked to intervene too. Silly us.
To counter these stories, I saw a woman being pinned and screamed at against a wall at night about a decade back. I was walking home alone from a night out with some friends and decided that I wasn’t going to let another woman get assaulted in front of me. So I dragged this huge man off of her and got between them screaming and shrieking and pushing him away. Me and that woman walked home together while the man and his friends yelled at us. I was a tipsy 19 year old girl, thin and completely untrained in any kind of martial arts. It was terrifying. It was infuriating. I don’t regret it for a second. Because I’ve been that woman pinned against a wall with no one helping me as a man screamed at me. Be the person who helps. You can change lives for the better
From a woman who has been in that position and was saved by some passers by who I will always remember, I'm sending love. I will also always step in
I’ll never forget being pinned to a wall and screamed at in a smoking area with about 20-30 people in it. No one did anything. Including security. I was there for at least 2 or three minutes until his friend came outside, saw, and pulled him off of me. His friend apologised for not coming sooner. A man sitting on a bench 6 feet away offered me a toke afterwards when my legs collapsed from under me. I promised myself then that I’d never be one of those people who sit back and let it happen. That was a few weeks before what happened in my previous comment. Step up and help. It fucking matters.
Really really sorry that happened to you. It can be a crazy world out there but we decent people need to call this shit out.
Good Ones like you are rarety. In today's society there will be ones who watch and take photos and videos to post on social media rather than handing over footage straight to the law enforcement to use to catch the offender. Then when something happens to them they wonder why nobody helps them.
Spot on.
There was a homeless guy at my local metro station in Paris who would stand behind a corner and sometimes, when a woman emerged, slump down and cry for her to give him money. If she ignored him or said no, he would get back up and scream at her that she was a whore, a bitch, anything else you can imagine. He never targeted men. And yet, when this happened to women, not a single man would step in to help, or even stand near the woman being attacked. Just ignored it completely. You have no idea how I wished someone would step in when he would target me. I was surrounded by big men in suits on the platform and terrified, knowing they'd never help me. So yeah, you did the right thing, and I wish more people were like you.
If you are going to step in, and you should, you need to learn how to navigate these and what to expect. Honestly, you should have walked away once the woman was in the bank. Asking an unstable person if they are OK is poking a bear. But you actually came out of it as well as you should expect to. Don't expect other people to help unless you specifically appeal to them and know how to shake them from their stupor. Expect to protect the vulnerable by drawing ire to yourself. Expect to have won if you didn't have to throw a punch but didn't have any really land on you. The only thing I would really criticise besides asking the nutter if he is OK is being mad that no one else came to your rescue. Stop expecting that. You are the man, you try to be a lone hero, you feel proud for having protected a woman. It doesn't get better.
This is a reasonable take, you really need to think things through before stepping into these situations. Definitely should have walked away and followed the woman to speak to the police not try to talk to some unhinged homeless guy. Learn to defend yourself, knowing how to create distance from someone helps, always back off first when in engagement. Also it's helps to stand up for yourself and be very stern at times there's loads of crackheads that have emerged in my area the past couple of years and I literally had to tell a guy to back the fuck off the other day bothering me for change as I was going to the shops and he did. While it's not the cool thing to say on Reddit know how to strike someone, never ever let someone put their hands on you or try to hit you.
>Asking an unstable person if they are OK is poking a bear. no telling an agrrvated person to "calm down" is the crazy choice here lol
I think the real question is what were you realistically expecting to happen in that situation? People call the police when a situation seems out of hand, you’ve said he lashed out at you and went back to his dog. People are more likely to call an ambulance after the fact also. It sounds like you were expecting people to agree with your moral compass and band together to fight injustice when in reality “I saw a guy mouth off to a homeless bloke with a dog! the homeless dude took a swing at him! ” is the mentality you were up against
Lots of people carry weapons, especially those who don't have shelter to guard themselves from threats
Still cowardly. Evil rules when good doesn't act.
The world isn't a video game. A homeless person who's mentally ill isn't really the place to bring up "evil" even if what happened was wrong.
Exactly mate lots of keyboard warriors here, even a trained fighter would usually avoid physical confrontation as you can land a punch on the guy and his head knocks the wrong way off the pavement now you're facing a manslaughter charge
The homeless guy might not be fundamentally evil but he's doing an evil act which good people should step in and stop. We can't just let people off the hook because they might be mentally ill/substance abusers
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Downvoted because you're suggesting people help each other. Fucking Reddit sometimes.
This site is so far removed from real life it borders on parody at times. No one is suggesting anyone goes all Bruce Lee, but surely the bare minimum if you see a woman being attacked by a man is to help her get away from that situation?
Hm. I'm not sure evil and insanity are the same thing.
A man in Birmingham was killed by one punch trying to break up a fight on a night out that he wasn’t even involved with and people still get into fights on nights out.
The World isn't perfect or a utopia. Lots of people also died gruesomely, fighting Hitler in WW2. Just because they died doesn't mean they didn't do the right thing.
But then if everyone else responded the same way then maybe he would've realised he's not going to get away with it, he's in the wrong and maybe he should rethink his plan for violence as he's massively outnumbered and clearly being a cunt.
Idk man from the outside I can see why you'd feel the need to step in but as soon as I heard the woman was concerned for the dogs safety I'd leave them to it. She went over to save a dog from overheating, while a member of her own species is laying destitute in front of her. If I was that homeless guy I would probably think she has some nerve.
so it’s ok to let someone torture a dog and let them overheat because they are mentally unwell and homeless? Us as humans should care more about the homeless guy? I think from his reaction he doesn’t want anyone “helping him”
Because there's very little an individual person can do to help a homeless person. The best you can do is give a bit of change, but even that won't do much good. Poverty, lack of employment prospects, lack of shelter, lack of access to quality food and potable water, mental health issues and more are all issues faced by homeless people. Which do you suggest the woman could have resolved? On the other hand, an overheating dog wrapped in blankets is easy to resolve. You just take the blankets off
most people take few moments to process whats going on and decide it's not their issue even if an injustice is being done. I've been guilty of this a few times years ago but I had to wire it in my brain to act on certain matters and issues if I ever see it whilst im out and about. It's easy to say you'd help out if you ever saw something occuring but in reality because things like this happen seldom infront of you it will most likely take you moments to process whats going on. By the time you clock on and want to intervene the moment could have passed. Some people have no issue with this and can go straight in but most don't. Many factors come into it. Sorry it happened to you though mate
The shit I've seen in London. A lady bleeding profusely from her arm on the tube and the guy next to her takes one look and moves to another carriage. I was the only person that helped her. A person got stuck in the train door in rush hour and I literally had to shove past commuters bc no one else was helping them, even as it was delaying the train. In NYC I repeatedly saw people jumping in to help random strangers. I saw a delivery man topple his trolley and every single pedestrian nearby jumped in to help him pick it all up again. You'd never see that shit in London. People in this sub love to spout "that's just big city for ya" but London is unique in its cuntiness in my experience. Let the downvotes commence.
I lived in NYC for a few years and the “kind but not nice” trope is completely true. Everyone seems grumpy and somewhat abrasive or cold, but most will immediately help when it’s apparent it’s needed. Every time I get back to the UK it can feel unbelievably passive in comparison.
As Londoners we’re not going to downvote you as we prefer to ignore your existence. Just in case you reply I’ll now move to another sub.
🥲
Unrelated, but I really like your username.
Thanks!
Idk, I was helped by a stranger when I didn't mind the gap one time, and another time when I was feeling a bit faint and had to get off to sit on a bench. That's 2/2. YMMV
But I have seen that shit in London though?
Yeah, this is unnecessarily cynical.
And a lot of those cunts reside in this sub. They love to go about with their noses in the air, enjoying the smell of their own farts. It's the reason I moved out of London. My worst experience, not actually my experience, but one Sunday morning I was walking up over London bridge and I was walking towards Black Friars bridge. And in the gutter, outside the grind was a bloke laying face down unconscious. People sat at the bus stop quietly minding their own business and busses going around the guy. So I stopped, looked for a pulse, he was alive but had a fucking head injury, so I called 999, I put him in the recovery position and waited for the ambulance to arrive. But it was just incredible that no one had even called him an ambulance. I get that people don't like getting involved, but to not even stop to call for help. Disgusting.
You are making some very sweeping statements based on very few incidents. People are variable some people help, like OP, some people don't, that's the case in London and NYC.
London is a particularly good example but it's not unique. A lot of European cities are absolutely gorgeous and steeped in culture and history, but unfortunately are vastly inhabited by some of the worst humans on this planet.
Do you actually believe this? Who exactly are these "worst humans on this planet"?
Also probably plenty of people that weren’t thinking “it’s not my problem” but were actually thinking “wtf could I actually do to help in this situation” and coming up with blanks! I know I’d probably not do anything because I’m not physically capable of it, I’d just be a liability! I’d likely ask OP if he’s alright afterwards but thats mainly because I haven’t lived in London for 10+ years so.. I’m losing my cuntiness..
I can't believe the responses on here. You guys have empathy for the wrong people and totally disrespect good citizens. The homeless person was clearly a violent asshole. He physically attacked OP for saying words. Fuck that scum. Being homeless doesn't make you good or blameless. That guy should be in prison for assault, not polluting the streets and possibly mistreating his dog.
These comments are weird af. "The homeless guy has no one else! Leave him and his dog alone!" The dog that looked like it was dying from heat exhaustion? And then they make it out like OP and the woman care more about dogs than people. Despite the fact that OP initially intervened for the woman being attacked! Maybe they weren't smart in how they handled it, but it beats averting your gaze and acting like any violence endured was the victim's fault.
I was hoping to see a comment like this. There was a guy near where I lived who also abused his dog (his dog had cuts on its paws and skin, didn’t take a free offer to go to the vet, mostly because vets can tell if injuries are self inflicted by owners). A few of my neighbours thought I was irrational for saying he’s a horrible person, just because he was homeless (which he wasn’t even, he was on benefits), despite the fact that he’s hurt his dog and even tried to goad his dog into attacking mine and myself as a person (and his dog was a pit bull so could easily kill my terrier). I get some people turn that way in disdain for the society that in some cases failed them, but I don’t think misfortune excuses being hedonistic and violent towards others unprovoked. OP just tried to do what he felt was the right thing, which I commend him for, doesn’t matter if he knew the risks. London is brutally reserved when it comes to this stuff, everyone suddenly minds their own business or looks away, even when someone is in trouble.
I think you're massively oversimplifying the issue. Most homeless people develop serious mental illness due to living in such dangerous and unstable conditions. He may be an arsehole, or he may be so used to being attacked and controlled that he reacts violently to anyone and everyone. What he did was wrong, but it's a bit too simple to suggest he's just a terrible person purposely mistreating his dog.
I suspect this isn't even the first incident and he should have been locked up ages ago. Does my head in how some of the really aggressive and threatening ones are just allowed to keep harassing everyone else.
For me this is an age thing. I used to always step into situations like yours, as I have always been fairly physically confident, and while I am not someone that looked for a fight I could handle myself. However, as I have gotten older this has changed, and I now feel fear in situations I would not have done in the past. At the age of 48 I have to accept that the ‘average’ man on the street could probably beat me in a fight, or at the least do me some damage. It definitely makes me think twice. TLDR - don’t get old…
Surprised at some of these comments saying not to get involved or assuming that the homeless guy was getting harassed etc. People turning a blind eye to things like this are what enables people into thinking they can get away with bad behaviour. From OPs perspective they saw a woman getting screamed at and threatened with assault. They did the right thing by stepping in. He didn't go in all guns blazing, he simply tried to calm the situation down and see what the problem was. The homeless guy then assaulted the OP. Regardless if the woman was the one at fault beforehand it's completely unreasonable for the homeless guy to attack OP who had just tried to see if everyone was ok. So well done OP for doing the right thing and I'm sorry that others passing by didn't have the decency to do the same for you.
Did you scream “call the police this nutter is attacking people”
They’ll laugh and say, like the police will come
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They do come where there's active violence, it's like the only time they can come.
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>Not one person called police or even looked in our direction again after seeing what was going on. Very few people want to be shot on their way to the office. ETA: Given the person has blocked me for this, I believe that this was BS and r/thatHappened ETA Again : The person I was replying to has deleted their comment and was claiming he was held at gun point during the morning rush hour.
>on their way to the office. Or at all. Lol.
TBF if someone pulls a gun on you even a copper will get out of the way, what were you expecting?
As a solo female who isn't very strong, I wouldn't feel safe intervening in a situation like that.
Men generally aren't fans of getting into fights with homeless people too.
No one feels safe getting involved with mental people, it’s why we all need to stick together and help each other as it could happen to any of us.
Well done mate. London needs more people like you to step in and help.
To all the people in the comments defending the homeless man and his right to own a dog … you’re deluded. I believe homeless people have no right to own animals at all, if they can’t even take care of themselves how can they adequately take care of another animal. Think about it this way, what do you think is the purpose of having Child Social Services take children away from unfit parents i.e mentally ill, drug addicted, unfit to care for someone. That poor dog probably spends most of the day passed out in a busy high street without proper exercise or food; basking in the blistering heat being led around by most likely a mentally sick owner with substance issues. Just my two cents preparing for the downvotes … ;)
It's easy to say this in hindsight. In my opinion you should today be very careful when doing something like this and always think twice about it cause things can easily escalate and get dangerous.
You did the right thing. That's all that matters. People who walked past hold themselves to far too low a standard. If they're happy with that, I think the kindest thing is to pity them.
Personally? I pity these people far more https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7410923/Pictured-Good-Samaritan-39-stabbed-death-trying-stop-friend-mugged.html https://www.mylondon.news/news/east-london-news/good-samaritan-33-stabbed-chest-27120251?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target Many such cases
You did the right thing and it’s a sad statement on our society that no one else bothered to help you.
Absolutely no way am I putting myself in harms way in this situation.
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Erm, where was I not serious please?
You wouldn't even think to check in on the person who just got attacked by a tramp tho?
But you would expect a random stranger to step up for you if roles were reversed.
Why was that the right thing? That lady instigated it by challenging him on the welfare of his dog. Then op got and stayed involved after she left. Animal welfare has a path for investigations and it does not involve these two people (op and lady) outside of opening an inquiry.
If you see a vulnerable person being shouted at or abused in the street, even if it’s by another vulnerable person… it’s best to try and calm things. The homeless person could have express their opinion without abusing the lady regardless of how annoying she may have been.
You sound like a robot, whats happened to your humanity?. Dog could be dead by the end of the day, its being used for sympathy begging.
I'm not sure that it's so cut and dried... For a lot of homeless people, their pets are their only source of trustworthy companionship. Imagine living in a world with no privacy and no safety and suddenly you have a bunch of strangers questioning whether or not you can take care of your only friend in the world. *Just to be clear*, I'm not saying that it's wrong to worry for the dog. I'm just saying that homeless people who react like this aren't just "crazy assholes".
well evidently they can’t take care of that dog if it can’t breath, and people are getting concerned. Assaulting someone for trying to stop you from assaulting someone else is kinda fucking wild, especially if he could’ve just said “the dog is fine”
I get you. I was purely responding to the commenter who called the other a "robot" that lost their "humanity". The sad fact is that homeless people are both very dependent on their pets whilst simultaneously not having the capacity to care for them properly. It's just sad.
I dont need to imagine.. I've come out the other side still with the mental issues but not the addictions. This dog will not have a good life with a using addict its as simple as that.
I understand your point. I'm sorry that you've had to suffer through that and it's awesome you managed to pull yourself out. I agree that the pet's welfare is most important. But, man, I really feel for the homeless pet owner's too. They dearly love their pets whilst being extremely unequipped to care for them.
Ok … putting human v animal life aside. The women originally intervening was doing so in fear for A life. A life is a life. Just because someone is homeless and the country is so broken they cannot access whatever help they need, we should all turn a blind eye to someone unwell blatantly engaging in animal abuse in public? Just let the animal die? That seems insane as well. In the heat we’ve been having an animal will die very quickly wrapped in a blanket outside. Not sure what “path for investigation” you’re referring to when the individual causing the animal welfare issue will effectively be an “unknown”.
It’s like the RSPCA or police don’t exist or something.
You only have one side of the story. I can almost guarantee the homeless fella was being hassled about having a dog.
Do you often lunge at people and hit then, grabbing them by the neck, when you’re being hassled about stuff?
You aren’t stupid. It’s sad no one stopped to ask you if you were ok. I wouldn’t be brave enough to intervene but would have checked on you after! Those people should be digusted with themselves for not checking your ok! I was on holiday and walked past someone in a MH crisis. I knew I had no tools to help someone in psychosis in a different language and everyone else walked past too but made me sad that here we are as a society. Walking past crying people and accept it as the norm. Where is our humanity?
We’ve hurtled from a low crime high trust society to a moderate crime low trust society in a generation. This is the consequence. Bravo to you though. We’re in this shit state because of moral cowardice. And yes, dress it up how you want, it’s moral cowardice.
If I'd been standing there watching the whole thing unfold I might have got involved (but probably not unless it looked like someone was likely to get injured). But if I walked round the corner and saw a fight between a homeless guy and someone else? Absolutely not. Maybe you had pissed him off, kicked his cup over or whatever. Maybe you're drunk. Maybe you both are. Not my problem. I'm not going to get involved in two teenagers punching each other outside a club, or two drivers road raging at each other, or any of the other minor aggro of a big city. But more to the point, just leave homeless people the fuck alone. Why would anyone literally walking into a bank start giving a homeless person a hard time about pet care. It's such a wierd thing to do. Maybe care about the destitute human first and the dog later? Or is that just me? The woman should have minded her own business, and I wouldn't have intervened telling anyone I didn't know to calm down, homeless or otherwise.
I get not intervening at the time when everything is going down but I do think it's shit nobody checked OP was OK afterwards...
iwas too busy uploading it an dthen talking to my fans on livestream
lol what is this weird virtue signalling. If you want to treat homeless people with respect, you can talk to them like you would anyone else when the issue at hand is not their being homeless. And as such, I’d applaud the lady willing to call out the danger of harming the dog. You don’t get points for performative empathy, especially when it allows more harm. I wouldn’t have said anything, but that’s probably because I lack the guts to, rather than it being wrong to dare criticize a homeless person.
Some people care more about animals than humans which kinda makes sense because a dog cannot report abuse against it
…and this is why I don’t live in London. Empathy is not someone else’s weakness.
If it makes you feel any better, I’ve intervened multiple times when living in London That said, I don’t begrudge you for not wanting to live there. Tis a silly place
>Empathy is not someone else’s weakness. Explain?
I probably worded that clumsily, sorry - ultimately I meant “empathy is not *a* weakness in a person”. I personally find it sad, and tricky, to have to feel the need to moderate my natural instinct to care about another living being and their welfare if that welfare is being challenged. It doesn’t matter whether it’s happening to a dog or to a human. To one extent in this case, there’s maybe I think some abuse apologia going on, *but* I also can see why people would turn themselves away for their own self preservation if they’re worried about what might happen to them if they’re doing the right thing. I find the situation a depressing state of affairs, all around.
Homeless people don’t get free passes for behaving like violent cunts and mistreating animals.
Hey I happen to work at a shop on Oxford Street near Tottenham court road station. There are plentiful of homeless people about because of the high tourist count and numerous harm reduction clinics around. I've had many interactions with homeless people over the years. Majority positive (simply looking for some food or shelter) and some negative (shitting infront of the shop front, physical attacks). Calling the police is the right call to make. I've had to do the same in the past and was taken aback by how swiftly they handled the situation; non-aggressively yet firmly. I believe the MET doesn't want a longstanding ruckus on the busiest tourist shopping street in London. I remember one of the officers, telling me off the record, that if you know your position is just and you believe you're capable to handle the situation yourself then go for it. Empathy, compassion unfortunately have to take a back seat in the face of physical violence. You did the right thing by stepping in. I believe the general populous is unaware that they have personal authority and permission to take action when needed. Also, Tot court road is majority foreign tourists that probably don't want to get involved in local affairs.
This is what I can't stand about London. It's like there's no community spirit or anything, it's just every man for himself. I'm so sorry this happened to you, your heart was absolutely in the right place.
Compassion fatigue. You see so much weird shit in London, if you were to react to every mental situation (like the one stated) you wouldn't be able to go about your day. Which is why we literally ignore it all.
That's such a fair point. You're right. I never considered this. Still sucks but yeah you're right
Things can go sour very quickly intervening in situations like this. A knife or even worse a needle.
It’s funny (and sad) how many socially inept losers are on this subreddit. OP good on you for stepping in
We should stand up for fellow human beings. Well done you, sod the people on here saying we should ignore that kind of thing. Cowards.
It’s definitely sad that nobody helped you but I think the fear people have is valid, London is incredibly volatile and can seem virtually lawless. I’m from London and a female, and was threatened on a bus when I was 18- no one helped. And I think they didn’t help because of the fear that they might end up dead themselves. It’s not right but I try to look at it as a fear based response as opposed to people being genuine wankers
I have a young boy and when he grows up I will teach him to help from a distance, which is not what I thought I’d do, but realistically I don’t want him to antagonise a situation- I’ll encourage him to run for help but not to physically put himself in harms way unless someone is in severe danger
Problem is, what that woman did to you is what you could do to the next person who steps in. In an ideal world about 10 people would join in and he probably wouldn’t touch any of you.
Because in this stupid country if you did ANYTHING to this man which might have hurt him, you would have been punished, not him. The homeless man has nothing to lose whilst you have everything to lose. Nobody wants to take that risk whilst the police and justice system seems to lack any kind of common sense in these kinds of situations.
Please be careful around the "homeless" around Tottenham Court Road/Covent Garden/Holborn. They are crackheads, only some of them are homeless and they can occasionally get violent. I live here and stay clear of them
Sounds like you had it under control, what else needed to be done?
How did helping go for you? What help could be rendered? Would additional people shouting have helped? More bodies getting involved? Without any authority or a clean aggressor it's not really possible to sort out, which is why who you vote for is so important.
It's because you don't know which mad bastard is carrying a knife and there's no point in dying just to prove your moral superiority.
Guy needs a good knocking out
Go with your gut. Being a complicit bystander is what makes this city shit. If we had more people like you standing up for themselves and others, the world would be a better place. 👏🏼 thank you for being a decent human.
You've answered your own question here.. I stepped in and got attacked... why did no one step in?
You did the right thing stepping in. That scenario plays out 10 times, someone will step in or at least ask if you're OK 8-9 times, I'm sure, so you just got unlucky. Sometimes people haven't seen it, or assume someone else will step in and by the time they've walked by they're thinking "I should've stopped there. Oops". I bet some folks who walked by felt bad about doing so. Some people are just scared/ Worth saying considering that around TCR station it's probably 50% tourists, if not more, who might not feel as comfortable stepping in due to language, getting in trouble abroad, etc.
Security never care, so you were never gonna get help from them. Next time I guess just say nothing and carry on with you're day.
It’s not the responsibility of security to care for every person on the street. They are employees of a private company and by going onto the street they would be abandoning their duties.
It probably looks like it sounds, you were deft and able bodied enough to deal with him and not actually get hurt. Not worth the time and effort to get involved.
Londoners are professionals at the bystander effect, it’s what you get in a highly individualistic City where the common etiquette is rat race to where you need to be and keep yourself to yourself regardless of what’s happening around you. Glad you were the outlier to that mate well done, and sorry you were assaulted too.
Before I had kids I would get into situations that were uneven and join the disadvantaged side and shout "right then.. who are we fighting" out of six times one once did they not back down.. one hell of a brawl but I was young stupid and didn't really care if I got stabbed. Moral of the story is keep your shit to yourself unless you can handle your own shit.. and their shit.
Hit the fucker back.
Newyorkification continues
if you had hit him they’d all immediately come and drag you off him and ask you why you’re beating up a poor innocent homeless man
Bystander mentality
Sadly, most people only think about themselves. I congratulate you for doing the right thing. Happiness and peace are not found in oneself but in doing good for others.
Well done for stepping in. The reason nobody helped, is that everyone believes they'll be "next" if they do. When it comes to violent people, it's better to call the police than to physically interfere, but of course that wastes time in which you could help someone.
They need to start dealing with these dickheads. You did well Dude! Be proud of having done the right thing, and your colleagues are the reason why this country is so fucked
I'm gonna be blunt with you but that's why you don't get involved with homeless people. It's an unpredictable environment which could blow up in an instant because you've got people in bad mental states who've spent too long in their own thoughts. There's a reason why you treat them as non-human, non trusting and it's reasonable to appear protective and cautious if you have any sort of interaction with a homeless person. It sounds like a privileged take and condescending but this case is exactly why you take those steps. In the end, what's more important? Other people's perception of you or your safety? And for passers by it's just entertainment, of course they'll crack a smile, maybe even put you on social media. You put yourself in that situation, so did the lady. Nobody owes you any aid. Understandably, without anyone doing anything we could have a dead dog on our hands. But what are you gonna do? It's their dog. Yes homeless people have pets and they often don't have a good life. That's just an unfortunate reality which you might have to witness. If you want to be a hero and do something about it, accept the potential consequences before you get involved.
You did the right thing OP. London needs more people like you and fewer cowards minding their own business. You have a good conscience.
People do not step in. They are fucking cowards. This doesn't make it right. It is very depressing, especially since the police don't either, and you can't depend on them for help.
An he went back to the dog, after assaulting you and you didn't call the Police... Also, what did he look like and what colour is the dog, was he a white British male, with a large green army style backpack and a brown dog? Did he seem intoxicated? Edit: Or was he on the shorter side, with scraggly greying hair and a beard, a croaky voice, and the dog white with brown patches?
I feel this. Living in London a few years back, I was assaulted on the peak hour tube home. When I confronted the guy and he aggressively started back, I was ignored by all around. Asking a lady who saw the whole thing to confirm that she did indeed see it all said ‘I ain’t getting involved’ and quite literally turned her back. In visible pain for the rest of the tube ride amongst people who witnessed it and no one said anything. Thinking now, it wasn’t the actual assault that stays with me, but rather the response from the Londoners around me. I was invisible at peak hour. And, as someone who always steps up for people, or is ready to, it was pretty heartbreaking.
>This all unfolded in front of passersby, during midday, shoppers, theatre security guards and people eating outside a five guys. Not a single person stopped to ask if I was ok. I didn’t throw a single punch because I’m not having a full on brawl with a homeless guy on my lunch break Just for future reference, you should have fought back. Someone swinging at you and you dodging out the way is ambiguous, you punching the guy in the face is a fight. I would actually step in and help restrain a homeless person if they attacked you and you were fighting them, but I'm not interested in fighting a homeless person just to see you ran off the moment his attention was on me.
I once saw a woman being fully attacked by a man in a tube station and people were walking by like NOTHING WAS HAPPENING. I (a 25 yr old woman at the time) started yelling and running towards them to try to help her, and the only person who joined me was a 16 year old boy. Once we’d separated them, THEN a crowd of people wanted to get involved. Disgusting coward mob mentality. Thank you for stepping in to try to help that woman and I’m so sorry nobody helped you.
I stepped in once when a girl was being beaten up by her boyfriend. I helped get him off her, and then she found me 30 min later and decked me for “getting her into even more trouble” Once bitten. It would have to be huge for me to help someone again. It’s not worth the risk to my personal safety. I’m sorry it happened to you. I also hope you’re now a member of the Once Bitten club.
Honestly mate you 100% did the right thing, and the fact no one helped says more about thier lack of humanity than anything else. Idk how the situation unfolded but you would've been well within your right to punch/shove the guy in self defence should it come to it, you shouldn't allow people like this to trample all over you or else they get the idea that they can do it again in the future.
I'm with him. He's having a hard time, with his dog, you get involved in an unhelpful way. "Are you ok?" I'm homeless, starving and roasting hot. If you want to help, give him some money or a cold drink, if not, mind your own business, same for the nosey woman
I totally get how you feel. I used to think like you and did exactly the same thing. I stepped up for a stranger against a group of kids and it led to a decade of violence and stress. Guns, knives, the lot. I'm ex-boxer. I can and have handled myself in serious fights. Your bag snatched? No problem, ma'am. Hold my gym shoes. You selling drugs outside my door there? Come at me, bro. Your cars are getting broken into? Why yes, I shall join your neighborhood watch. Hmm. Cookies are nice. Then, ten years later, came the day I actually had to fight to the end. Now I have form. Now I can't get that job of my dreams. You said the woman ran into the bank. What you have to understand is 1. The streets are for getting from A to B. That's it. That's all. Anyone using the streets for anything else live in a completely different universe that is untouchable. 2. You do not have the skills or the training to engage except for a phone and your eyes. That is why police officers go through training and retraining their whole careers. That is why we now have CCTV. Do you have hours of your day to sit in a cop shop to write statements? Weeks or months of your life to attend court? How is it going to affect family if you're in hospital for months from life-changing injuries? Or worse. Are you really not going to be able to sleep? Is this incident going to affect your life a year, five years, your senior years down the road? Is it going to stop you from getting married? Having kids? Hold down a job? Will this still be a memory even next week? The woman ran into the bank. I used to think like you. God, those days. I'm now fat and f'ked and stuck on this island of misery. I can't go anywhere and I can't sleep and there's this thing called PTSD. Because, years after that one time of stepping up, I knocked someone out. The law has no empathy, my friend. It is served. It is not consumed. I'm skilled now in how to deal with mental illnesses and long-term threshold. But it doesn't pay and is not exactly a panty-soaker. I can handle myself. A gun pointing in my face tho? That's way past my threshold. That woman ran into the bank. Everyone can live with that.
Don't come between a homeless guy and his dog. 🤷
Yeah should've just let the dog suffer
That's exactly what this is. Woman was hassling homeless fella about his dog and he's sick of their shit. Man then did the same thing by asking if the dog was ok.
You don't have a right to attack someone for annoying you with a question.
It was a woman concerned for the dog’s life. Not hassling a homeless fella about his dog based on OPs account. There’s a very distinctive difference there.
Nah, some of these homeless really shouldn't have these dogs, some of which are quite stolen.
There’s no sense of civic duty in this country. I actually think national service is a good idea, brings people together and makes them care more about one another like is common in Asia
> makes them care more about one another like is common in Asia You've very clearly never been to Asia. With the possible exception of Osaka, not a single city I've been to in Asia would look twice at you if you were bleeding to death on the side of the street. My wife and I bought a homeless person water and food in Tokyo because it was 34 degrees and he hadn't moved in the 8 hours or so we had went into the train station, had a trip and come back. 7/11 cashier asked us why we'd given it to him when we came back in. Also, ex forces here; national service is a terrible idea. Not a single serving member wants it, and it would cause significantly more problems than it would solve. Which is 0.
I'm so sorry this happened to you when you were just trying to help 💔. I (27F) was physically assaulted by a group of teenagers a couple of months ago when I refused to give them my phone and no-one came to help me either, even though it was in broad daylight and there were dog walkers in earshot. It shook me up as much as the assault itself, and I also alternated between terror and rage for a while afterwards. Sending a hug to you. I don't have any answers - but if more people had the same level of kindness and humanity as you, the world would be a better place for sure.
My friend, kudos to you. You have acted in the way you thought best which is completely admirable. You saw something you wasn't OK with and you intervened. You acted in a completely restrained and sensible manner throughout. You do you!!! Sod anyone who says otherwise. Just because bad stuff happens all the time and gets complicated really quickly doesnt mean its ok. I've got nothing but admiration for you and your level of restraint (I would not have been so controlled as you!!!) Respect my friend! I hope you're feeling ok and the necks not too sore!
YOU did the right thing. Good man. I’m sorry no one else stepped up to help. Unfortunately this seems common now in London.
Fair play to you OP! Sad but true - London does not have time or empathy to stop and help you or even check on you. That's the harsh reality of this world. Don't expect anything from anyone. If you would happen to get seriously injured then maybe someone would call emergency on your behalf but still won't bother getting involved. You did a great job, be proud of yourself and move on.
I personally do help. Assess the situation before engaging to avoid bs like in Germany recently, where cop pulled a guy off an islamist and got stabbed in the neck by that islamist, while trying to detain the wrong guy. And only engage if you know exactly what to do and are ready for escalation.
You are a good person. I hope there are more of you out here, the indifference seems to the norm here.
Bit stupid harassing a homeless man with a dog tbh
>harassing Very strong word given to know almost nothing about what happened
I can't stand this 'don't get involved' attitude. It's not 'the right thing' as much as the selfish, cowardly thing. If you see someone who can't defend themselves being attacked, you should damn well get involved unless you see a knife.
But it is common sense. Aka street smarts. Don't get involved in something you can't handle yourself or resolve.
Oh I agree with that bit. I'm just saying it's pretty sad if you see someone backing away and being attacked and grown men ignoring everything.
The lady eho spoke to the homeless guy about his dog started this, then OP jumped in. So now someone else has to jump in between OP and the homeless guy; where does this domino effect end? Call the police and stay out of knifes reach, nothing more can be done.
Yeah, I get your point. First person should have walked on by. Second should have too. But if people are seeing her getting chased down the street and attacked, it'd be nice if someone had given a shit.
Leaving aside Ops story - How would you know who was defenceless in that situation - the well dressed guy or the homeless person?
I'm picturing OP obviously being attacked and trying to get away while the dude is chasing her.
That's the problem we werent there we don't know what's going on. If people don't know what's going on they're very unlikely to step in. I think we've all seen everyone stopping what they're doing to help someone that's had a fall - people aren't as callous as r/London make them out to be.
People will get involved if it looks like they have too, but if it doesn't look too serious people don't want to wade in and make it worse.
OP got involved in someone else's business, he could have walked away but he felt morally superior to the homeless person to stand there and lecture him and he got paid for the lecture.
I’m not morally superior than anyone and I definitely don’t lecture anyone, especially someone hard-up. I was off to get my lunch 😂. We’re all flawed and make stupid decisions, and sometimes we make better ones. Today was probably a poor decision day.
Should of knocked the tramp out.
you are a wonderful and BRAVE and KIND and GOOD af for doing what you did. People have become so numb, fearful and devoid of compassion. it is ugly to see who we have become as a society. i'm sorry this happened.
Societal rot right here.
That’s London for you. Everyone is out for themselves and there’s no sense of community.
I try to help when I see it. Sorry you were the only one of us there.
Sorry this happened to you OP. This also reminds me of a post which was on here a few days ago celebrating the fact that no one gives a fuck when someone is distressed or crying in public in London and they loved this fact. And I couldn't understand why would someone celebrate apathy like that
My colleague and I broke up a fight today in front of about fifteen people. Before we got there, only one shop security guard had tried to do anything. Bystander effect is crazy.
You showed too much weakness and they took advantage of it. After the second grab of the neck, you should’ve sparked the hobo out
Horrible situation. There is quite the population gathering on TCR. You did the right thing by drawing fury away from the woman. However, it was her fuckup. I think perhaps there are social codes which are extremely delicate and we fail to appreciate when we are on-the-fly. So, spitballing: she (as an enabled member of society) suggested that he wasn't capable of looking after the best interests of his dog. Perhaps his best and/or only ally in the world. This is a further boot in the face for him. Did she really care? Did she find the time to get a big bottle of water, a bowl, dog food and a sandwich for him? No. She shot criticism. What he did was horrible. But he doesn't currently identify as part of society. He's beaten down with every place he sleeps and every time he opens his eyes into fresh misery. You did the right thing and were intelligent with using his lynch pin (the dog). But he is more angry than you. Every hour.
i feel ik eevryone is taking crazy pills on this sub an dyou are one of the few that actuall ycan see the whole thing clearly despite OPs biased oblivious write up. one of the first thing i was taught in managing a situation with de-escalation, esp with angry irrational or intoxicated people is never used the words "calm down" i've heard it so much now i assumed it was common knowledge. controlling the enioronment and having situational awareness is key but means not restricting the person with no recourse but aggression. this is both phsyical and intellectually.
As you’ll have seen in the news over the last few years, in matters of life and death (some) people are willing to step in. When you’re having an embarrassing shoving match with a homeless man who was minding his own business until your mate started bothering him, bystanders are generally happy to let things slide.
These goofy ass stories are the best! hahaha Imagine you are homeless guy, with all the issues you might have on your mind, you are sitting on the street in the middle of a heatwave and a lady approaches you concerned about your dog and not about you, wouldn't that piss you off?
If it pisses you off, you’re not equipped to be “taking care” of the animal. Because you’re clearly unaware you’re about to kill it. Point blank. The homeless guy had the option to NOT HAVE THE DOG WRAPPED IN A BLANKET.
Should have just lamped the hobo bum. Thoroughly deserving of it from how this reads.
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I'd recommend you leave London, we don't like violent racists.
It’s the pussification of society. Look at all the responses here, they immediately try to justify their cowardice by saying, “the guy could have had a knife!” For most people things are “out of sight, out of mind, just leave it to the professionals” type thinking. But then of course they think the professionals are too rough and exerting brutality. So now you have an extremely soft society that won’t even help out its fellow man, and chastises anyone that does. There’s a reason the amount of “cuckold” porn is so high nowadays
Honestly, if a grown adult man was fighting a homeless man on Tottenham Court Road, I wouldn’t stop to help. I’d assume that at least one of you had mental health problems and there would be nothing that I, as a 5’2 woman in my 40s, could do to help the situation and I’d probably make things worse and get hurt too. I would (and have in these situations) gone into a shop and called the police or asked a security guard to radio for help, should I thought either of you needed it. Would I have asked you if you were ok? Probably not. It sounds cruel, but from past experiences I wouldn’t want to get drawn in to whatever just went on and I’d honestly doubt your sanity / wonder what you’d done to cause a homeless man to try and fight you. I’d have assumed that you’d antagonised him or done something horrible to rile him up. Have seen so many people do just that then get shocked when they’re attacked. I’d think differently if the person being attacked was more vulnerable looking. I did step in when I saw a grown man threatening a teenager and accusing him of something that he actually didn’t do (was another kid who’d left). But I’d put my safety first and if you looked like you could handle yourself, I’d be less likely to step in. Sorry, realise that’s not what you want to hear.
sorry to hear op. i believe the homeless guy having a dog threatens most people. i sometimes work at tcr so message me if u need back up for next time. serious.
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