Associated Press – July 3, 2007:
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.
“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.
What is anyone “supposed” to do? Calling 911 within 2 minutes is the appropriate response.
Taking a cell phone picture? Pretty Bad.
Why not step in to cradle the victim in your arms and get stabbed yourself when the criminal returns?–or getting aids from the person??
Be smart–call 911.
2 minutes is a long time…I would like to see the video, if the police say it is sad, I say the people were insensative. Kitty Genoviese de ja vue all over again! (sorry for spelling errors)
2–Didn’t “nobody” call for Kitty? or if they did it was way past time for any help. NO!—this case very different on facts given. 2 min is short given time needed to confirm the situation, find the phone, get a signal etc.
I would hope my wife would be “sensible” rather than “sensitive,” but as a nurse, yes she would be applying pressure and yelling at me to make my belt a tournequet. Being sensible, I would do it only at her demand. Then I’d be totally pissed if we got aids or hepatitis which is why ER folks practically wrap themselves in plastic before caring for stab wounds.
Yep. Bet they were all Evangelical Bush supporters.
How very sad. May her soul rest in peace.
What on earth does this story have do with the “Kansas conservatives winning the heart of America”, SN? Other than taking place in Kansas?
I’m sure if someone would have helped her, we’d be reading a story of how she sued them for moving her wrong or saying the wrong thing, mentally scarring her for life.
Yeah, things like this NEVER happen in them big ol’ liberal cities, everyone loves each other and they walk on candy carpet and sing show tunes all day!
This blog is getting worse everyday, it’s like going to daily kos only a lot less witty which is a horrible insult to you.
Lack of empathy and a high degree of apathy. 🙁
5–It has to do with people in Kansas who are supposed to be the salt of GOUSA with loads of common sense and good will towards man. Evidently, they are pretty self centered and stoopid in that they voted conservative against their own economic self interest AND they failed to help the woman stab victim.
All pro helpers–so you would risk aids huh? Nice to maintain an “attitude” (or “wish”) without recognizing the issues that control?
I think its called living in fairytale land where everything is just peachy-keen.
Quite frankly, I can’t say what I’d do for sure, in that circumstance. An urban convenience store can be full of shady clientele, may be a situation you want to get away from.
I WOULD use my phone to call 911 before using it to take a picture, however…
Um, the name of the victim was “LaShanda Calloway”. Hardly a typically WASP whitebread Kansas conservative type name. And we know nothing about the people who stabbed her, or the people who did or didn’t come to her aid. So trying to single out a particular group of people just to make a cheap political point is bullshit.
10–Do you think a political point was being made, or just a social point?
Look at the BIG LETTERS for the BIG POINT. Look for small letters for a quibble or misdirection.
#5
Because the sole reason the people from Kansas voted for Bush Jr. (again) was because they’d rather spend retirement diggin in the trash for aluminum cans and sleep on the sidewalk inside carboard boxes than treating gays & lesbians as equals.
#10
So it was okay for them to let that woman die?
12—What would YOU do?
The argument that SN is pathetically trying to make is that there were bad/cowardly people in a particular neighborhood in Witchita, Kansas. So therefore it means that all people in Kansas are bad. So therefore that means that since the state of Kansas represents conservativism, then since there are some bad/cowardly people in a particular neighborhood in Witchita, Kansas, therefore all conservatives are bad/cowardly.
So it was okay for them to let that woman die?
So on Planet Angel, I have two alternatives:
1) I can smear the entire state of Kansas, and conservatives in general, by absurdly linking these millions of people to this incident in a neighborhood in Witchita involving a few bad and cowardly people…
OR
2) If I don’t want to do that, I must let the poor woman die.
Brilliant.
Let’s see… Angel is trying to say something here. What could it be?
1) That people in Kansas voted in an initiative that would require retired people to dig in trashcans for aluminum cans and sleep in cardboard boxes.
2) That the above initiative is somehow tied to the anti-gay marriage initiative.
3) That there is a one to one relationship between votes for Bush in the 2004 election and votes for the anti-gay marriage initiative. No Kerry voters whatsoever voted for anti-gay initiatives. Oh, and by the way, Mary Cheney is a lesbian.
There’s no place like home…(click)…there’s no place like home…(click)…there’s no place like home…(click)…there’s no place like home…(click)…
14—Get back on your meds asap!!!
SN made no argument at all!!
Honestly—I took the inclusion of the book with the article as saying “Look at what people in Kansas are doing!! – – If these good people are letting crime victims die, how bad is it in the rest of the GOUSA?”
Nothing to do with politics. Get real.
Part of the problem was that the fire dept refused to administer 1st aid they had to wait there for the police to arrive which ultimately led to this girls death.
Emergency Workers Must Wait For Officers
#14: You hit the nail on the head. I live in Nebraska, which is too damn close to (arka)Kansas(tucky) for comfort. I wouldn’t wish the suffering of a life in Kansas on my worst enemy. Not that Nebraska is much better, but at least we don’t have any qualms about teaching evolution…
#16: People weren’t voting for Vice President, so who cares if his daughter is gay? Seems to have really warmed him and his buddy Bush so much that they stopped fighting for “Defense of Marriage” acts and Constitutional Amendments…
Kerry and Edwards, for two.
13 – you asked Angle, not me; but, living in a rural community, I do exactly what I did when I lived in a poor urban community. I take responsibility for what I recognize as a need.
So, when I lived in a city, I organized a neighborhood watch. Helped catch criminals. Helped get drug dealers busted.
Here in the boonies, I’ve still managed to get a couple of gangbanger wannabes busted attempting to break into a neighbor’s home.
If I see an accident, I not only call 911 on the cell phone, I stop to offer help. No less than I’d want or expect to receive in the same situation.
The last thing I expect to be mistaken for is a frackin’ xhristian – because I believe in walking the walk unlike our bible-thumping brothers and sisters in states like Kansas who have a pretty solid track record as hypocrites. All the way back to Brown vs. Board of Education and forward again to the current Supreme Court who welcome racism back into the arms of conservatism.
12- What would I do, boboo, what would YOU do. I would try to save this woman in the best way I knew how, and I do know how. Yes I would risk AIDS, I would risk the possibilty that someone would come back to finish the job, I would completely zone into the moment of trying to save this human life. Everything else would fall into the background. I guess I would risk my life for another. I am sad that you wouldnt.
The headline reads “Shoppers refuse to help woman dying on the floor in a Kansas convenience store!” and the graphic is a book cover with the title “What’s The matter With Kansas?” and that pretty much is all that matters, and its a good question…
But let’s ignore that shitbags let this woman die so we can have same fucking tired debate about how liberals smear conservatives and conservatives smear liberals. Because that’s really interesting and completely relevant.
The dumb graphics used as punch lines is really this blog’s weak point and once again the oversensitive right wing was got its panties in a bunch over some tangential detail rather than adding anything constructive to the thread. Rather a shame really because this blog has so many strong points.
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and Bobbo… Dude… I get it… And if I worked in an emergency room where I was in contact with blood every thirty seconds, I’m sure my risk of AIDS exposure would be much higher than the average person’s… But it’s the 21st Century and I think the learned among us (one of which seems to be you most of the time) ought to get over this late 80’s paranoia and start being afraid of the new stuff we have to be afraid of. Hell, I’m so hip that I’m over anthrax. They only thing I’m afraid of is that I might actually have to buy an iPhone*
In my understanding, AIDS is actually fairly hard to contract. Only a fool would just have rampant unprotected sex, but the virus hates fresh air and dies faster than folks might think. The chance of getting it from helping this woman is pretty low, coupled with the chance of her having it, its statistically not worth considering.
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*am I the first one to pollute this thread with a mention of the iPhone?
24-25 === What I THINK I should do is look for her assailant and call medical personnel first and then police. I don’t know who this person is, but “on average” people that get themselves stabbed, aren’t worth the risk of blood exposure to me. Now, if you feel differently, thats just great. You are a “better” person than I am. I will be happy to pay taxes to take care of your children should they wind up loosing a parent.
What I FEEL is I could probably hold out for a minute or two and then I’d do what I could do to safely help. But I don’t see any nobility to it, just a stupid emotionalism.
Per above, my wife and I have argued about this, but it was about the fact I did not swerve our car to avoid a squirrel on the highway. She thought I was heartless to drive straight. I said I would not risk our lives to save that of a squirrel. Squirrel==stranger===not much difference. ((Squirrel made it too, one of those indesicive types.))
20–That disturbs me. Really? I don’t think thats the law in California. In fact, I don’t believe it. Get your law changed if thats true.
Seriously, I would try to do something to help, but what do you do to stop bleeding from a stab wound(s). You can be sued if you make things worse, or even appear to. And from the article it appears that even medical personnel can’t administer help until police arrive. I would try and make her comfortable (if it wasn’t too intrusive) and yell for someone to phone help, but that’s it.
27===All you can and should do is apply pressure with your hand or clean piece of cloth. When appropriate, raise the body part away from the heart==with a wound to the chest/stomoach, that means face up with feet slightly raised. Apply tourniquest to an extremity. Usually, people that can be saved, can do this themselves if they have the knowledge.
Bobbo, the men you use the restroom after every day are more likely to be HIV positive than any woman, so I can’t take your rationalization seriously. Your blaming the victim for being stabbed is equally abhorrent. If you or yours are ever victim of violent crime I hope you remember what you said here.
Frank is fairly easy to see through. He is comfortable not helping the victim because he believes she was African-American. I would love to say that is unusual. But, researchers say that black crime victims are several times less likely to be get aid than white crime victims. It is another reflection of the fact white Americans regard black Americans of having less value than themselves.
As for the paramedics, saying they had to wait for the police is pretextual. The ambulance company will be on the receiving end of the wrongful death suit.
l
Bobbo, the men you use the restroom after every day are more likely to be HIV positive than any woman, so I can’t take your rationalization seriously. Your blaming the victim for being stabbed is equally abhorrent. If you or yours are ever victim of violent crime I hope you remember what you said here.
Frank is fairly easy to see through. He is comfortable not helping the victim because he believes she was African-American. I would love to say that is unusual. But, researchers say that black crime victims are several times less likely to be get aid than white crime victims. It is another reflection of the fact white Americans regard black Americans of having less value than themselves.
As for the paramedics, saying they had to wait for the police is pretextual. The ambulance company will be on the receiving end of the wrongful death suit.