Obviously this has nothing to do with immigrants. I read an article of this happening in central park in New York, not just once but many times. It made news several years ago when it happened in broad daylight on a downtown sidewalk in New York. Those cases were white American men, not immigrants.
People have been told not to get involved. It used to be citizens took care of each other; adults directly intervened whenever they saw a crime. If a thief was seen robbing a neighbour's store, the bystander would apprehend the thief and take him to the nearest police officer. If the thief struggled, use whatever force is necessary to subdue him. Primary responsibility for protecting the community lies with the citizens themselves, the police are there to back them up, mop-up arrests, and resolve disputes when citizens act in contraction to each other. Police are there to help, not do all the work themselves. Police are now telling people to not resist, to give a mugger any money he/she wants. That subsidizes crime. Crime is supposed to be dangerous, people are supposed to protect themselves.
The story quoted says Minnesota has a law to prosecute the bystanders. Good for them! Now the responsibility lies with local police to follow through and arrest those who appear on the security video tape. If they fail to do so, they are negligent in their duty; it would be time to charge the police. They can at least be charged with the same misdemeanour, although I'm sure there's a more serious charge for a police officer who sees an offence and fails to lay charges.
Omfg unbelievable.
Agreed Zipperfish.
Let these fuckers suffer and fucking rot.
It's beyond me that people will lament a high crime rate but won't do anything about it.
Rena Verk comes to mind.
The people who hear such a thing happening, especially the men, have no excuse not just for not calling the police, but for not rushing out to stop this themselves.
On two occasions when my wife and I lived in an apartment I intervened on behalf of women who were being attacked (not raped, I'll note) by men. One of them was a total stranger to the girl who was beaten savagely and the attacker didn't stop roundhouse punching her until I drew down on him and ordered him to stop or else I would open fire. I meant it, too. My wife took the girl to our apartment while I held the SOB for the police (who did not show up for nearly an hour) and the girls blood remained on the stairs to our apartment for the next two years until we moved into our house.
The second occasion was when a man was beating the snot out of his wife and she was screaming for help. I grabbed a baseball bat from a couple of kids and went after him and when confronted he asked me," Are you gonna swing that bat?" as if I wouldn't.
I tapped it a couple times on the street and said, "Batter up." and then advanced on him at which point the coward ran.
Sadly, when the police showed up the woman refused to press charges against her husband.
I cannot fathom how a man could sit idly by while someone, anyone, was being attacked and then have any respect for himself later on.
I'd rather die trying to help someone than to have to look at myself in the mirror and, worse, to have to look my wife in her eyes after losing her respect.
I woke up on a city bus one time (working night shift) to find that there were three thugs at the back of the bus who were about to set upon a young woman sitting near me. It was mostly verbal--still definitely abuse, but verbal. I said to myself, "If they touch her, I'll do something." Sure enough one of the losers gets up and sits next to her. Meanwhile the half a dozen others on the bus are doing nothing but staring straight ahead. There was a big guy on there, and I thought maybe he'd back me up if I started something. So I stand up and say loudly "Leave her alone." Three sets of hooded eyes turn to me. One guy says, "What are you going to do about it?"
At this point, I realize that I've been sleeping on my right arm and it is still asleep. I've got pins and needles all down the arm and I can't move it. The big guy sitting in front of me, I see, has no intention of backing me up. He's just staring straight ahead, hearing nothing. I draw myself up to my full height and say: "You wanna find out, just lay a finger on her." They backed off and got off the bus. Good thing.
Good for you, Zip.
Yeah, I often wondered what I'd do in a situation like that. I guess everyone likes to think that they would do something. Now I know I would. I was only 18 when it happened, but it had a huge (positive) effect on me. so, to use your words, it really was "good for me."
In a situation like that you can't just sit back. Even if you don't win the battle a few of them are going to need medical attention or know that they've been in a good scrap. Most times losers like that back away if they're unsure about the person confronting them.