"Strikes me as inhumane:" Growing trend in publishing crimes to social media

 

A Milwaukee woman is still recovering after teenagers beat her up at a gas station, stole her car keys, and lottery tickets.

You saw the video first here on CBS 58, and you'll most likely remember that several people stood around and watched the attack.

That raises the question, how do you safely help someone in trouble?

It certainly isn't the first time that people have stood and watched while someone was in trouble and it most likely won't be the last. Hopefully, it can be a reminder to people that if they see something, they should say something if able to do so safely.

"There's no excuse for that level of disregard," said Reggie Moore, Milwaukee Office of Violence Prevention.

"It really strikes me as inhumane in a sense," said Greenfield Officer Matt Borchardt. 

Officer Borchardt says that people could and should have done something in the incident where a grandmother was beat up at a gas station.

"Be a good witness, keep a good distance away, get the information you can, and call somebody," Officer Borchardt said.

"It is not okay to watch violence happen in front of you. It is something that should be interrupted and should be prevented. The more people who take the initiative to make that happen, the less normal that violence becomes," Moore said.

Officials say cell phone video has made indifference worse. This summer, 5 teenagers in Florida took video with their iPhones while a man drowned. They laughed about it.

"Cell phone video can be helpful but it shouldn't be the first priority in any emergency situation," Officer Borchardt said.

"It's hard to explain how we got here as a society but I think we need to do some soul searching and figure out what does it mean to care for a fellow human being and what would you want someone to do if you were in that situation?" 

Milwaukee Police are still looking for the teens who beat the woman on 27th and Capitol. If you know anything, you're asked to call them.