With respect to some of the forum members who piled on the owner, the original video shows us virtually nothing about the bodega owner and the reasons he had for not intervening (before we saw the new video of him trying to hide the kid, that is).
I know that the vast majority of forum members have never lived in - or at least remained in - shitty places like this. And even if some of you have, either confronting armed gangs or being perceived as thwarting their attempts at violence (by helping their victims) is a definite no-no over time if you wish to stay unharmed.
I know fellow Australians who walked around New York and were accosted by people, usually minorities, for even having two seconds of accidental eye contact. And this was in Manhattan, not the Bronx.
Seeing a 10 second to 5 minute video in these cases tells us jack shit. It doesn't tell us about the likely 500 times the bodega's owner and employees experienced gang or general criminal activity going on in the neighborhood.
Even before the outcry and before I read this story, I predicted that the owner was either afraid or had been told not to intervene:
http://bronx.news12.com/story/38491847/b...t-involved
Quote:Quote:
THE BRONX -
The manager of a Bronx bodega where a 15-year-old boy was slain says the killers warned him and his staff not to get involved.
The bodega manager's comments, given exclusively to News 12, come as search efforts are continuing for the suspects wanted in the fatal stabbing outside the Belmont bodega on Wednesday.
Police say Lesandro Guzman-Feliz was stabbed and slashed multiple times, including once in the neck at 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue just before midnight. He attempted to run to St. Barnabas Hospital to seek help, but he only made it to the front entrance before he collapsed and later died.
Some neighbors tell News 12 that they think the business owner should have stepped in, while others disagree.
The manager of the bodega has since responded that the killers warned him and his staff not to get involved.
“We were threatened so we wouldn't continue to intervene with the situation,” he said. "It's not our fault. It's a tragedy, but we were just doing our jobs and getting ready to leave and unfortunately this happened."
Guzman-Feliz’s mother, however, has said that the manager has known her son since he was a little boy and should have tried to help.
Of course, the mother will say this. But that doesn't make it valid.
We had a thread some weeks ago, one that some said was a troll attempt, about a guy who had his wallet and passport stolen by a "friend" in Colombia. The most common piece of advice was for this guy not to get himself killed/severely injured over some papers and cash.
Yet here we have a nearly senior citizen bodega owner who allegedly didn't do what he should have, when a crazed criminal gang was involved, and some people are lambasting the dude.
Even if the new video hadn't emerged, I have zero problems with what the guy in the bodega did. He's not law enforcement and he's not to be expected to play Superman when his own life, livelihood and potentially the lives of his family (through later retribution) are at stake.
Police at Evergreen State College couldn't protect Bret Weinstein from entitled college students, so why should this bodega owner have acted as if Bronx police could protect him?
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