Girl beaten in Seattle bus terminal as guards watch

[Heidict]

This is just disgusting. The guards just stand there and watch and do absolutely nothing to stop this, they don't even bother standing between the victim and her pathetic attacker.

What are they guarding? The posters on the wall? They are useless. Yes, I know that they are told not to apprehend anyone and not to interfere, but then, what use are they? Shouldn't some common sense and humanity come into the equation at some point? A monkey could do their job. Heck, a monkey could do a better job as he might have actually tried to help. Their appearance does nothing for making a safe environment.

I hope the girl sues and I hope she gets a boatload of money.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/11/national/main6197655.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

 

[irishbosoxfan]

Unbelievably disgusting.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

I was just watching a story about this and it stated that most "security guards" are actually instructed to do nothing to intervene. They are told to act as a witness and call the police. This is common for malls, terminals, etc. where the "security officers" are employees of a "security" company.

 

[luvmy3]

I was just watching a story about this and it stated that most "security guards" are actually instructed to do nothing to intervene. They are told to act as a witness and call the police. This is common for malls, terminals, etc. where the "security officers" are employees of a "security" company.

I don't care, how can grown men trained to use a gun if necessary just sit there and do nothing to help that poor girl who was getting kicked in the head. I think what bothers me the most is that the story wasn't even about the fact that they were just standing there watching. Its disturbing


ETA I'm not suggesting that they should have shot the attacker but that they have been trained to use force, whatever necessary and wouldn't be afraid to intervene like some businessman or another teen may have been.

 

[Magic Mom]

I'm less concerned about the gaurds than I am about the pack of teens that chased the girl from the mall and then stole from her and beat her. Where are the parents? Who is going to step up and take responsibility for raising these horrible people?

 

[dislaney]

This is crazy! Unbelievable.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

I saw this on the news last night and was horrified, obviously. However, the Seattle Metro execs did state that their security guards are specifically instructed not to intervene in a situation. The guards could have faced disciplinary action or lost their job if they had used force to intervene. In fact, it would have been better to be a by-stander, because you would have the good Samaritan law to protect you if something went wrong and someone got hurt because of your "help".

I live in Seattle and I know the downtown transit tunnel station where the incident happened very well, and I am sure that the security guards see crazier things than a fight between two teenage girls on a daily basis. It probably took them a few seconds to realize that it wasn't just typical teenagers acting badly in public.

That said, I'm not sure why the security guards even exist, then. I think the guards should be able to intervene in a violent situation without fear of losing their job or being sued by some teenager's parents (in the "you touched my kid!" vein). I think that's the real issue here; not that the guards didn't react in a more forceful way, but that they were not allowed to act in a more forceful way.

Also, as an added point: I worked for several years in a middle school where I was forbidden in my contract from physically intervening in any situation. Did that stop me from occasionally pulling two fighting pre-teens away from each other? Nope.

 

[MiniGirl]

I'm less concerned about the gaurds than I am about the pack of teens that chased the girl from the mall and then stole from her and beat her. Where are the parents? Who is going to step up and take responsibility for raising these horrible people?

Didn't you see the quote from the mom of the GIRL that was beating up the other girl? Mom was surprised by her actions because she is such a nurturing girl -- always taking care of others.

That's the other thing. If I read the article correctly, it was a girl giving the beating. The others were just interested in her purse and looked like they left after they had it. Certainly one or two of those men could've stepped between the 2 girls.

Here is the disclaimer: I don't have my glasses on, so I may not be seeing things correctly. LOL!!!

 

[RitaZ.]

This is so typical in these violent cases that make the news. You can always count on a parent or relative of the attacker to say how wonderful and loving he/she is the rest of the time. Here is an excerpt from the article...

The mother of the alleged attacker told CBS affiliate KIRO-TV that she was shocked to see her daughter's violent rage on camera.

“My daughter's a beautiful person and she's usually nurturing and loving. I always thought she'd have a job taking care of people," she said. KIRO kept her identity anonymous because her daughter is a minor.

While the mother said she " can't feel sorry for my daughter because those are her actions," the video only tells half the story. According to the mother, the suspect had also been the victim of violence shortly before the attack took place.

"She's been beaten up by guys and she's been maced before," she said, saying that the attacks on her daughter involved some of the same people involved in the tunnel beating.

Loving and nurturing people don't stomp and beat up others. Totally messed up!

 

[Terry36]

WOW....I saw this on the news as well.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I was just watching a story about this and it stated that most "security guards" are actually instructed to do nothing to intervene. They are told to act as a witness and call the police. This is common for malls, terminals, etc. where the "security officers" are employees of a "security" company.

I had heard tha thte security company that employees these individuals has stated they have no such policy. They are indeed told to intervene when necessary.

The article I found on AO< has this quote:

"The current contract language doesn't expressly forbid Olympic guards from physically stopping an attack, but officials say Olympic's personnel are trained not to intervene."

They may be trained--but they are not prohibited. To me, they caused this girls injuries as much as the girl who did the beating.

To me--there is no point in a uniformed security guard who is only limited to calling 911.

It's negligent and clearly a very false sense of security.

This quote in an aol article disturbs me:

"If you're a bank teller and you do something other than give them the money, you're going to get fired," one officer told The Associated Press. "We don't expect civilians to take police action. In this case, it was a violent fight, and they were outnumbered by this pack of people 3-to-1."

I guess that would be a fair comparison if the ticket clerk called 911. IF there were a security guard at the bank behaving like Barney Fife and doing nothing--there'd be a problem.

The whole thing is just disgusting and the justifications are vile.

 

[Magic Mom]

Didn't you see the quote from the mom of the GIRL that was beating up the other girl? Mom was surprised by her actions because she is such a nurturing girl -- always taking care of others.

That's the other thing. If I read the article correctly, it was a girl giving the beating. The others were just interested in her purse and looked like they left after they had it. Certainly one or two of those men could've stepped between the 2 girls.

Here is the disclaimer: I don't have my glasses on, so I may not be seeing things correctly. LOL!!!

I watched her interview, and she didn't really sound surprised or shocked. And beating or no beating, chasing someone through a train station and robbing them is pretty awful too.

 

[agnes!]

I had heard tha thte security company that employees these individuals has stated they have no such policy. They are indeed told to intervene when necessary.

...They may be trained--but they are not prohibited. To me, they caused this girls injuries as much as the girl who did the beating.

To me--there is no point in a uniformed security guard who is only limited to calling 911.

Is anyone sure who called "911"? Maybe the guards didn't even do *that*, maybe it was a member of the public.

It's negligent and clearly a very false sense of security.

...I guess that would be a fair comparison if the ticket clerk called 911. IF there were a security guard at the bank behaving like Barney Fife and doing nothing--there'd be a problem.

The whole thing is just disgusting and the justifications are vile.

Actually, Barney Fife was a very moral and ethical character and probably would have put himself in harm's way to save that girl, he might be considered somewhat incompetent but he certainly wasn't amoral.

And yes, the whole beating/theft/standing-by is very disturbing. Google the name "Kitty Genovese", though, and you'll see standing-by and *watching* while someone else is beaten or killed is not a new thing in American history. And contrary to the quoted 'officer', if the so-called "security" personnel were doing NOTHING, then there is no police presence and the civilians HAVE to take police action.

It's kind of like the people in this massive blizzard who have been stranded in their homes for several days...they have to basically rescue themselves, they cannot wait any longer for help from the authorities that is too slow in coming.

agnes!

 

[Charade]

They should have stopped the attack. I can't believe someone would worry more about losing their job than stopping a viscous attack. What if it had turned deadly? I couldn't live with myself if I stood there and did nothing. It would haunt me.

 

[FireDancer]

I'm the I.T. director of a credit union and some of our branches have armed guards. Unless they are fired upon they are not to remove their weapons from their holsters, period, full stop. They are a deterrent. If they don't deter a robbery they are to be well trained witnesses and nothing else. This is all written out in their contract.

I can't speak for the contract these metro officers have but in the financial industry the set up we have is very common. Blame the litigious society that makes everyone be overly cautious because they are worried about getting sued for doing their jobs.

In the end, as PP stated, my disgust is with the perpetrators. The reality is that while others may have been able to step in and stop it, and probably should have morally, the people who beat the girl are the bad guys and could have prevented the attack by not even starting it.

So often we hear about ancillary people who get blasted in the media, sometimes fairly and sometimes not, but I blame the perpetrator. When a kid shoots up the school I don't blame the parents, I blame the kid. When a police chace ends in a deadly crash I don't blame the police, I blame the fleeing suspect. In this case, I blame the perpetrators. Even if others contributed to the tragedy, even by neglegence, if the original domino didn't set the actions in motion none of the others would have fallen into place.

 

[kaytieeldr]

They are told to act as a witness and call the police.

Understood - but does anybody think if maybe they called the police when the attack started, the results might have been different?

 

[Sarah_Rose]

Understood - but does anybody think if maybe they called the police when the attack started, the results might have been different?

If you watch the video of the attack (it's been played here on Seattle news and commercials for "coming up at 11..." ad nauseum over the last couple days) the attack goes from two teenage girls yelling and pushing each other around to incredibly violent in less than 5 seconds. Much faster than most people could react. As a by-stander (or security guard), I would not intervene or call 911 for a teenage yelling/pushing match - disagreements between teenagers happen relatively often and seldom turn violent. Most people in a public place would just roll their eyes and turn their heads. The nature of the public setting with many adults and security guards would have made most teenagers back down - as an adult, I would not have expected the girls to break out in full-out violence in a public setting. By the time the confrontation had turned viciously violent, it was almost over.

The public nature of this assault is probably the most telling as to the nature of the people involved - most teenagers would back down with many adults and security guards watching. Violent crimes like this seldom happen with that many witnesses.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Thank you. I only saw the video once, and no sound was played with it (had to enable the news anchor to talk over the clip, yanno?).

 

[Charade]

I'm the I.T. director of a credit union and some of our branches have armed guards. Unless they are fired upon they are not to remove their weapons from their holsters, period, full stop. They are a deterrent. If they don't deter a robbery they are to be well trained witnesses and nothing else. This is all written out in their contract.

I can't speak for the contract these metro officers have but in the financial industry the set up we have is very common. Blame the litigious society that makes everyone be overly cautious because they are worried about getting sued for doing their jobs.

In the end, as PP stated, my disgust is with the perpetrators. The reality is that while others may have been able to step in and stop it, and probably should have morally, the people who beat the girl are the bad guys and could have prevented the attack by not even starting it.

So often we hear about ancillary people who get blasted in the media, sometimes fairly and sometimes not, but I blame the perpetrator. When a kid shoots up the school I don't blame the parents, I blame the kid. When a police chace ends in a deadly crash I don't blame the police, I blame the fleeing suspect. In this case, I blame the perpetrators. Even if others contributed to the tragedy, even by neglegence, if the original domino didn't set the actions in motion none of the others would have fallen into place.

Could you (in the capacity of those security guards) stand there and do nothing?

 

[luvmy3]

I'm the I.T. director of a credit union and some of our branches have armed guards. Unless they are fired upon they are not to remove their weapons from their holsters, period, full stop. They are a deterrent. If they don't deter a robbery they are to be well trained witnesses and nothing else. This is all written out in their contract.

I can't speak for the contract these metro officers have but in the financial industry the set up we have is very common. Blame the litigious society that makes everyone be overly cautious because they are worried about getting sued for doing their jobs.

In the end, as PP stated, my disgust is with the perpetrators. The reality is that while others may have been able to step in and stop it, and probably should have morally, the people who beat the girl are the bad guys and could have prevented the attack by not even starting it.

So often we hear about ancillary people who get blasted in the media, sometimes fairly and sometimes not, but I blame the perpetrator. When a kid shoots up the school I don't blame the parents, I blame the kid. When a police chace ends in a deadly crash I don't blame the police, I blame the fleeing suspect. In this case, I blame the perpetrators. Even if others contributed to the tragedy, even by neglegence, if the original domino didn't set the actions in motion none of the others would have fallen into place.

How often do bank robberies include vicious beatings? (I really don't know the statistics). If someone came in and started kicking a teller in the head, the guards would stand there and just watch and not do a single thing to stop it? They don't need to take out their weapon to intervene to stop a beating, just like these guards (as in plural ) could have done. Its just so sickening.