Bystander Behavior on the Philadelphia Subway
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A recent article
in the Philadelphia Daily News on
September 9, 2008 describes the brutal attack on a lab technician named Dewayne Taylor on his way home
after midnight on a subway train as he slept in his seat. A person who
did not know Dewayne ushered his six year old son to a seat on the train, took
a hammer out of his backpack and, without provocation, attacked the sleeping
Dewayne with a hammer. Ten adults moved out of the way or stood by while he was
beaten. One bystander took Dewayne's cell phone that fell from his pocket
during the attack. The Police Commissioner and a Detective believe that someone
on the train should have helped Dewayne. The video, "Subway Rider
Beaten with a Hammer," may be disturbing to some viewers. In this piece, Meredith
Vieira from The Today Show talks to
police commissioner Charles Ramsey about the crime and bystander behavior.
In the article, "He's not a monster" Toni Frazier, the mother of the alleged attacker, tells authorities that her son is "sick" and has been in and out of mental institutions the last couple years. She said that before the attack, he "heard voices" and believed the FBI and CIA were after him. The article goes into more detail and suggests in addition to a long history of crime, he has had a long history of mental illness.
September 12, 2008
In the article, "He's not a monster" Toni Frazier, the mother of the alleged attacker, tells authorities that her son is "sick" and has been in and out of mental institutions the last couple years. She said that before the attack, he "heard voices" and believed the FBI and CIA were after him. The article goes into more detail and suggests in addition to a long history of crime, he has had a long history of mental illness.
Discussion Questions
- How do you explain the response of bystanders in the station? Why do you think bystanders choose not to intervene? How do you assess their behavior?
- What would it have taken to stop this attack?
- What kind of intervention might have made a difference?
- In general, are there responsibilities to intervene in a society? What expectation should we have for others and ourselves in these instances?
- How does the family's story of the perpetrator alter your perspective on the events described in the first article or shown in the video? If so, what does it alter? How does it make your assessment different? If not, how do you explain the new information?
- Some people have connected this story to Kitty Genovese. Genovese was brutally murdered in 1964 while returning to her apartment in Queens, NY. Martin Gansberg's article "38 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police," details the attack by a mugger and the thirty eight witnesses who did not come forward to help her. Michael Dorman in "The Killing of Kitty Genovese," talks about how this crime became a symbol for Americans' failure to get involved.
- Many of these themes are explored in Chapter 8 of Holocaust and Human Behavior
Note: The media selections posted in Facing Today do not necessarily represent the views of Facing History and Ourselves.
