Don't assume and just walk on by!!

Tonight I could cry, scream, shout from the rooftops, but not any of it would do me any good. My son (age 24) went out to watch the fireworks, two hours later my daughter is hammering at the door in a complete state, my son had collapsed with a hypoglycaemic attack in the middle of the street, people had been walking past him for nearly an hour thinking he was drunk, it was only chance that she walked via the same route, by this time he was unconscious. Thanks to her prompt action he is still with us, but I feel so b..... angry!! He seriously could have died, he was freezing cold. Its such a reflection on our society isn't it, we are afraid to approach people, thinking they are druggies or drunk, sometimes I hate this world, tonight I've just had enough! Sorry everybody, nobody else to scream at!

Lucky escape , pleased he's ok and yes it is a conclusion a lot of people would make

Yeah your right Dave, its not the first time, and I guess it won't be the last, I've got two boys with diabetes and sometimes it just gets on top of you, tonight I'm afraid is one of those times!

years ago the guy that used to collect our pools had an attack at our door , dad though he was drunk and mum had an idea something wasn't right but we had no experience ( I was just a kid) fortunately we knew the family so rang his wife to check and all sorted

Must admit I can understand the assumption that they are drunk, but it scares the hell out of me, if they were girls I think people would view it differently and be more inclined to go and check they are ok. Ever feel like you want to switch your mind off, thats how I feel at the moment, few more blood checks to do before I can hit the sack unfortunately!!

Thomos 2 wrote:Must admit I can understand the assumption that they are drunk, but it scares the hell out of me, if they were girls I think people would view it differently and be more inclined to go and check they are ok. Ever feel like you want to switch your mind off, thats how I feel at the moment, few more blood checks to do before I can hit the sack unfortunately!!

To be honest if I was to walk past someone I though was drunk on there own I would still stop and try to help.

Reminds me of a time down a back lane near where I used to live , I saw a girl in the dark crouching and rocking herself forward and backward as if she was distressed , I had left my mates house at a party for a fag and spied her so went over to see if she was ok , she replied to me , "if you don't mind I'm having a p**s"

Does he wear a medical alert bracelet or necklace? If not it might be a good idea to get one. This way if someone checks they will know whats wrong

Most people assume that and don't get involved. Which is stupid really, because even high or drunk people lying in the street in the freezing cold should get help, but I guess people don't care what happens to someone if it's self-inflicted. Glad your son is OK though.

I can understand people being wary, I would be myself! But what I'd do (and I have done it) is call an ambulance on the assumption that something is wrong. Even a drunk shouldn't be left to freeze to death!

I'm so glad your son is ok - give him my best wishes!

jstaff wrote:Does he wear a medical alert bracelet or necklace? If not it might be a good idea to get one. This way if someone checks they will know whats wrong

good call, this is what I was going to suggest, you can get medical ID's from any good chemist I have seen these myself.

Saddens me in a way, so pleased all was ok in the end, I take it everything is fine now ><

Hope all is ok. I always go over and check on anyone.
Last time about a year ago some bloke was face first into a wall. I ran over and checked his pulse and nothing was just about to start kiss of life etc and he jumped up and walked off I need to retrain myself on finding a pulse before I go round trying to snog 15 stone men

same thing happened to my brother walking home from work through the town centre had a hypo and was there for nearly 3 hours. The police tried to arrest him thinking he was that drunk before realising. He spent almost a month in hospital after

Oh my goodness I have to say i never walk on by, i'm the annoying person who ALWAYS stops to check or phones 999. How can people be so uncaring?

Glad your son is okay, hope it hasn't scared him or your daughter too much xx

As bad as it sounds and i dont want to sound heartless but you have to be very carefull approaching anybody these days.
there was a warning out recntly in my area that a gang was out targeting vunerable women or elderley they would get one lie down at the side of the road and pretend to be injured to lure them in and then other members would jump out behind bushes or another hiding places.
Thats how crap our country has got when you have to worry about helping somebody. even still though there is no excuses for calling the police or for an ambulamce.

Really glad your son is okay

unfortunately its just the world we live in
people are afraid of a person potentially lashing out
or the spread of disease
and as said above... people pretending to be unconcious to lure people into an attack.

personally i always try to help if i suspect that someone is in trouble

just after christmas I drove past a young lad (14/15ish) lying face down in the gutter of a street at 2am when i was coming home from work.

i was pretty apprehensive but i pulled over, had a peek about then got out of the car and gave him a nudge
he was absolutely off his face and stank of booze and had cuts and grazes all over him from falling over on his way home.
managed to get him off the road and got some sense out of him after a few mins. he was still pretty incoherent and seemed to think i was the police lol. gave me his address after about 8 attempts and it turned out he was only a few hundred metres from his house

took him home and his mother answered the door
she was really thankful that id helped him out and tried to give me money lol
(i refused)
i reckon he'll still be grounded haha

pretty lucky i found him tbh as it was freezing cold and he didnt have a jacket.

im guessing there wont have been many people that would have just thought "silly drunk barsteward" or been too afraid and driven on without helping.

i cant really blame people for being reluctant to help
but thats just the way the world is nowadays unfortunately
too many headcases out there.

edit:

other end of the spectrum...

I was walking home from a mates house a few years back at around 10pm
saw a guy coming toward me on the same side of the street. he was pretty distant so i crossed over
when i got nearer he was sort of swaying about, doubled over and making odd noises like he was injured or in pain
so i stopped and asked if he was alright and he asked me to help him up (he'd sort of dropped to his knees at this point)
so i wandered over and when i got within a step of him he leapt up and smacked me full in the face then legged it
then another guy on the side of the street on the same side as id crossed to. jumped out from behind a parked van, laughing his head off at me and legged it in the same direction as the first guy.

thankfully i wasnt hurt, just a bit shocked
but it could have ended a lot worse

they'd obviously been wandering about trying to find "victims"

utter scum

it definitely made me a lot more apprehensive about helping people but i dont think i could just leave someone.
i couldnt live with myself if i left someone in a state and then seen them dead on the news the next day or something.

I'm so glad your son is ok, unfortunately people can be scared to help a stranger e.g a friend of mine helped a lady crying & writhing about on the floor and as she helped her up into a standing position & got out her phone a man came from know where & tried stealing her phone and handbag, fortunately he had a lucky escape. Me I would always do as caryll says call for help just incase.

Bloody idiots! It shouldn't matter whether they think he's drunk or not! If you see somebody passed out in the street, you call an ambulance! Even if it turns out that they're just drunk, that doesn't mean they should be left there to get hypothermia and possibly die!

I'm glad your son's okay. Wish people would climb out of their own little bubbles and show some damn consideration for others though.