Recently, there was a news report from Upper Darby, PA of a woman who was sexually assaulted by a man while they were on a commuter train. The man was a stranger who was audacious enough to take the time to disrobe, rip the clothes off the woman and sexually assault her. During the entire time the woman was attacked, there were other passengers on the train who saw and heard the attack occurring and not only failed to call 9-1-1 to summon the police, but they did absolutely nothing to stop or discourage or attack, and nothing to intervene on the behalf of the woman. An off-duty employee of the train line called the Transit police who arrived three minutes later to interrupt the violent attack and arrest the offender.
I personally find this cowardly act of the witnesses indefensible. As the investigation into this crime are uncovered, it was reported that the only actions these witnesses took was to hold up their cell phones in the direction of the crime and record the violent offender as he was sexually assaulting the woman. Regardless of the motivation of the witnesses to record the crime, if there were more than two people, they should have physically intervened to stop this heinous crime.
If you are wondering what can be done to intervene, I have taught this to many of the women in my self-defense class. I teach them how to rescue another person by using the carotid control hold. The rescuer can approach the person from an angle the violent offender cannot detect their presence, apply the carotid control hold on the offender and as the offender is pulled off their victim, they are also rendered unconscious. If the offender needs to be further restrained, use the offender’s own clothing to restrain them. A belt, shoelaces, or a shirt can be used to bind the suspect’s hands behind them. If the offender does not have any of those items, the rescuer may use their own items to restrain the suspect. If there are more than one rescuer, the following tasks need to be completed: someone needs to be the hands-on person who applies the carotid control hold; once the suspect is compliant (unconscious) someone can assist in binding the suspect’s hands behind their back. Another task is that of notifying 9-1-1 of the violent situations. Once all that is done, please remember to care for the victim of the violent crime who may require medical treatment. Be sure that one of the rescuers obtains the names of everyone for the crime report, especially the victim of the crime. All these tasks are vitally important to mitigate a violent encounter.