HillsdaleHHR

I can't believe no one helped

Police: Shoppers Stepped Over Victim
By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer
3 hours ago

WICHITA, Kan. - As stabbing victim LaShanda Calloway lay dying on the floor of a convenience store, five shoppers, including one who stopped to take a picture of her with a cell phone, stepped over the woman, police said.

The June 23 situation, captured on the store's surveillance video, got scant news coverage until a columnist for The Wichita Eagle disclosed the existence of the video and its contents Tuesday.

Police have refused to release the video, saying it is part of their investigation.

"It was tragic to watch," police spokesman Gordon Bassham said Tuesday. "The fact that people were more interested in taking a picture with a cell phone and shopping for snacks rather than helping this innocent young woman is, frankly, revolting."

The woman was stabbed during an altercation that was not part of a robbery, Bassham said. It took about two minutes for someone to call 911, he said.

Calloway, 27, died later at a hospital.

Two suspects have been arrested. A 19-year-old woman was charged with first-degree murder. Another suspect who turned himself in had not been charged as of Tuesday, the Sedgwick County prosecutor's office said.

The district attorney's office will have to decide whether any of the shoppers could be charged, Bassham said.

It was uncertain what law, if any, would be applicable. A state statute for failure to render aid refers only to victims of a car accident.

Eagle columnist Mark McCormick told The Associated Press he learned about the video when he called Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams to inquire about a phone call he had received from a reader complaining about a Police Department policy that requires emergency medical personnel to wait until police secure a crime scene before rendering aid. McCormick said Williams then unloaded on him about the shoppers in the stabbing case.

"This is just appalling," Williams told the newspaper. "I could continue shopping and not render aid and then take time out to take a picture? That's crazy. What happened to our respect for life?"

MrVette

There are some sick people out there.

Black Rose

WTF is wrong with people!?!?!?!?

HonestBlues

The people that did nothing should be identified using the security video and charged with being sorry excuses of human beings and publicly embarrassed.

captain howdy

Why does the media and people on this site like to blow crap out of proportion. I'm sorry but if I see someone laying there bleeding I am not going to touch them or try to help. I'll call 911 but that's it. You guys are assuming that the people could have helped and didn't but maybe they are like me and couldn't. I know for damn sure that I don't know how to stop the bleeding of a stabbing victim especially if it's to a vital area. I'm not a doctor, paramedic, trained in first aid, or any of that crap. Secondly there is no way I am going to come in contact with an unknown persons bodily fluids. Why do you think paramedics protect themselves and protective gear like rubber gloves and a mask thing so you can give mouth to mouth without contact are included in a first aid kit? Diseases can be passed through blood! For me it would have nothing to do with compassion being emotionally detached or anything like that. It would be simple logic that I don't know what to properly do so if I did try to help I would make matters worse and I am not going to put my own life at risk playing in potentially AIDS infested blood. IMO if you did try to help you would be a moron without the proper training or protection.

HillsdaleHHR

CH, you are kidding right?!? People stepping over the body and someone taking a cell phone pic as if it were a tourist attaction. I'm not saying I would have been able to provide much help but I sure wouldn't have gone on about my business like nothing happened.

MrVette

CH, you bring up some valid points, but the least the person with the cell phone could of used it to CALL 911 intstead of using it to snap photos of a dying person.

captain howdy

Personally I would have stopped, called 911, and waited for police and paramedics to arrived unless it put myself in danger. Stepping over someone is wrong, they should have at least walked around. Taking a pic is just wrong and morbid. I still wouldn't have physically helped myself because like I said my lack of knowledge would probably make things worse and my fear of touching strangers bodily fluids.

dbarberaz

Well I think at most all I would have done was call 911 for the same reason as CH. Plus I forget most first aid I ever learned.
But if you ask me the police are just as bad per this line
"Police Department policy that requires emergency medical personnel to wait until police secure a crime scene before rendering aid"

HillsdaleHHR

Agreed!!!