Was It Cowardice or Just Being Sensible?

You see a woman being dragged down a deserted staircase in a subway station, fighting off a rapist and screaming for help - do you:

a) immediately run to help her, possibly at your peril
b) call the cops from the safety of your subway booth and consider it a job well done

Well, a New York judge has recently tossed out a lawsuit by the rape victim who claimed that two subway employees did nothing more to stop her rape than just calling the cops from the safety of their posts:

A conductor saw the rape from the window on his train, and a station agent in the booth witnessed a screaming woman being dragged down a staircase inside the desolate 21st Street station of the G line. But neither one left the safety of their assigned posts to help her. Instead, conductor Harmodio Cruz and agent John Koort called the command center to summon cops.

Justice Kevin Kerrigan ruled the two workers had taken "prompt and decisive action in obtaining police help," according to the decision handed down in Queens Supreme Court. The help came far too late for the victim, who was raped on the platform.

Her lawyer, Marc Albert, called Kerrigan's decision "offensive," saying it gives "blanket immunity" for transit workers to ignore straphangers in peril. "Simply pressing the button is enough," lamented Albert. "God forbid citizens are put in a position where municipal workers are not required to act and it leads to harm -- they are left out in the cold."

Link - via The Zeray Gazette

What do you think: was it cowardice or just being sensibe?

(Photo: Catherine Nance)


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Newest 5 Comments

To stand by while a woman is being raped is cowardice, whether you have a Y chromosome or not. I have come to the aid of a woman I saw being assaulted, even though I had to U-turn my car to get there.
All you whiners saying the employees would lose their jobs for acting, I say "Who cares?!" Any employer would hire a guy like that in a heartbeat.
The solution is simple: Draw your gun, aim it at the guy's head and tell him not to move or you'll kill him. Then if he moves, F*CKING KILL HIM!!!
All you pansies in NY & places like that need to take back your rights & then take back your city.
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It was cowardice, two men could easily take care of one. And most rapists split at the first sign of difficulty but these particular men were too scared to even try. I have no respect for them.
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Observing the rules. All good and well until the conductor or station agent later learns that the rape victime in question was in fact their wife, mother, sister or daughter. What a paradigm!?? Do we have to know this information before we act?
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They did exactly the right thing....called the authorities. They are under no obligation to put themselves in harms way and possibly get killed themselves. Transit workers (or men) are not the protectors of females. Tell me, would she have brought a suit if the workers were female? -- pure sexual discrimination.
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Not attacking a rapist who you know nothing about is not cowardice, not on any level. Attacking that rapist was probably the worst thing the workers could have done. What if the rapist got frightened, and killed the girl? What if the rapist was armed and killed all involved? What if there was more than 1 rapist? For all those men know, the woman wasn't even being raped anyway, because women falsify rape cases every day now, crying rape when nothing even happened. Not attacking that rapist was smart on the men's part, not cowardly. For all the women saying men should defend you, chivalry went out the door when we initiated a feminine-based government filled with equal rights supporters. Equal rights = equal responsibility, although that doesn't seem to be the case any more.
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