An 81 year-old Guangzhou woman was knocked down in a traffic collision and did not receive any help whatsoever for a full ten minutes afterwards. How do we know this? Because witnesses at the scene did not see anyone, or themselves, offer any aid to the fallen woman.
At approximately 8pm on April 1 on the street across from the Tiyu West Metro Station, Ms Qiu came into contact with the side of a moving motorbike and was knocked down, thereby hurting her foot in the process, reported Nandu.com.
Xiao Wang, a witness at the scene, said a group of bystanders converged around the elderly woman. However, none of them were willing to help the woman up, a situation that would last for ten minutes. During this time, Qiu continued to call out in pain as the driver of the motorbike stood to the side.
After ten minutes elapsed, a female pedestrian in her 30’s that works nearby stopped to offer aid to Qiu. Approximately half an hour after she was hit, an ambulance took Qiu to the hospital where a doctor said she had suffered no serious injuries and released her.
Xiao Wang said she personally had apprehensions about helping the woman. Nobody on the scene was sure about how injured the woman was, and feared being singled out as her “attacker” if they got involved. It wouldn’t be the first time a seemingly injured person play acts to secure compensation from whoever decides to help.
Qiu did not receive immediate aid, nor did she have serious injuries, but she did receive one thing for sure: the driver of the vehicle gave Qiu RMB 1,000 in reimbursement for the accident.
Earlier this year, a Guangzhou woman collapsed in a subway and died when no one came to her aid. The infamous Yueyue story from 2011 made international headlines when 18 pedestrians were recorded walking past the 2 year-old toddler instead of offering aid after she was run over by two different cars.
Shenzhen has responded to this social issue by enacting a Good Samaritan law in 2011.
Photo credit: 54yuqing.com