Tonight I heard this guy on the street wailing in pain/terror. It was a blood curdling sound. So I leaned out the window and there was a passer by who was calling 911. About 10 minutes later an NYPD cruiser pulled up and two portly cops waddled out onto the scene. By this time the guy was kind of thrashing around, obviously very disturbed. The cops didn't seem very interested. They halfheartedly put on a pair of rubber gloves and stood back and watched. Meanwhile the guy was getting worse, and an old lady came out of a nearby building to see what was up. She and the passer by were attempting to stop the guy from thrashing around. It got pretty violent at one point, the guys legs were kicking up in the air, he was screaming, punching with his fists and generally going nuts. So I'm up in my apartment watching these two civilians, one an old lady, trying to restrain this psychotic dude while the two cops stood at least 6 feet back, one with hands in pockets, the other apparently browsing on his cellphone. You cannot make this stuff up. Even when the lady got kicked in the face, they just stood there and made no attempt to do anything. 
 
After about 5 minutes of this an ambulance showed up and the paramedics struggled to get him strapped onto a stretcher. Again the cops made no attempt to help. It was only when the guy was safely in the ambulance that they became animated - at this point two more cruisers pulled up and 4 more portly officers waddled forth, all determined looking, notebooks out, conferring with each other, trying to look like they were "taking action" when in fact the "action" had been handled very ably by two ordinary members of the public and a couple of paramedics. It was honestly like the cops were just clueless about what to do, they looked like helpless children. I see this kind of stuff all the time with the NYPD and it makes me so mad. 

The NYPD clearly needs a larger budget

I'm not sure what more money would have done in this case. Maybe snazzier gloves?

Eggsakklee ...

What's the problem here?
 
 1) They were Courteous and kept a safe distance from the "thrasher"
 2) They showed Professionalism and called for backup/help
 3) They Respected the public wanting to help and didn't interrupt
 

BobF
The NYPD clearly needs a larger budget

 
...or less donuts...

Mesh
What's the problem here?
 
 1) They were Courteous and kept a safe distance from the "thrasher"
 2) They showed Professionalism and called for backup/help
 3) They Respected the public wanting to help and didn't interrupt
 

The problem I see is that the white mini-skirt is in the background instead of being the focal point.

With all the lawsuits against the cops these days..... it's really no wonder that they stood back and did nothing. 
 
If they had gotten involved, and the guy had died, they would have been defendants in a law suit.  As long as no laws were being broken by the guy in pain.... and apparently it wasn't a gun shot victim, standing by waiting on the rescue squad was all they were required to do.

I'm not defending their actions, just observing that we didn't have all the facts in the story. Was the guy bleeding? Had he been stabbed or shot? Did he have a medical problem? Was he spaced out on some sort of drug cocktail? Was he an imminent  danger to himself or others?  What was the race of the guy and the cops? Apparently the NYPD didn't think he was in need of their expertise and decided to simply wait on the medics.

As a trained Search and Rescue technician, it was drilled into our heads that we're under no legal obligation to assist someone and especially if the assistance will put us into immediate bodily danger and if what we would be doing exceeds our level of training. That last one is crucial. If you're not trained and certified in something....You don't do it. Period.  Lawyers absolutely love asking what training and qualifications you have to do what you did or attempted to do. If you have no training..... that's a question you don't want to have to answer in a court room. Life and death situations exempted, but this doesn't sound like L&D the way you describe it.

My guess is they played it by the book.

Guitarhacker
With all the lawsuits against the cops these days..... it's really no wonder that they stood back and did nothing. 
 
If they had gotten involved, and the guy had died, they would have been defendants in a law suit.  As long as no laws were being broken by the guy in pain.... and apparently it wasn't a gun shot victim, standing by waiting on the rescue squad was all they were required to do.

I'm not defending their actions, just observing that we didn't have all the facts in the story. Was the guy bleeding? Had he been stabbed or shot? Did he have a medical problem? Was he spaced out on some sort of drug cocktail? Was he an imminent  danger to himself or others?  What was the race of the guy and the cops? Apparently the NYPD didn't think he was in need of their expertise and decided to simply wait on the medics.

As a trained Search and Rescue technician, it was drilled into our heads that we're under no legal obligation to assist someone and especially if the assistance will put us into immediate bodily danger and if what we would be doing exceeds our level of training. That last one is crucial. If you're not trained and certified in something....You don't do it. Period.  Lawyers absolutely love asking what training and qualifications you have to do what you did or attempted to do. If you have no training..... that's a question you don't want to have to answer in a court room. Life and death situations exempted, but this doesn't sound like L&D the way you describe it.

My guess is they played it by the book.

 
Yes, he was thrashing around, kicking and punching the two members of the public who were trying to restrain him and calm him down. That's what got me - even as he got more violent, the cops didn't intervene. Honestly, if you had seen it for yourself, you would have been as amazed as me that they could have stood there nonchalantly doing nothing. And if that was "doing it by the book" then I guess all the times they've taken people down with tasers must have been truly unorthodox 
 
 

Guitarhacker
With all the lawsuits against the cops these days..... it's really no wonder that they stood back and did nothing. 
 
If they had gotten involved, and the guy had died, they would have been defendants in a law suit.  As long as no laws were being broken by the guy in pain.... and apparently it wasn't a gun shot victim, standing by waiting on the rescue squad was all they were required to do.

I'm not defending their actions, just observing that we didn't have all the facts in the story. Was the guy bleeding? Had he been stabbed or shot? Did he have a medical problem? Was he spaced out on some sort of drug cocktail? Was he an imminent  danger to himself or others?  What was the race of the guy and the cops? Apparently the NYPD didn't think he was in need of their expertise and decided to simply wait on the medics.

As a trained Search and Rescue technician, it was drilled into our heads that we're under no legal obligation to assist someone and especially if the assistance will put us into immediate bodily danger and if what we would be doing exceeds our level of training. That last one is crucial. If you're not trained and certified in something....You don't do it. Period.  Lawyers absolutely love asking what training and qualifications you have to do what you did or attempted to do. If you have no training..... that's a question you don't want to have to answer in a court room. Life and death situations exempted, but this doesn't sound like L&D the way you describe it.

My guess is they played it by the book.

Herb wrote exactly what I was thinking.