[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]
An absolutely shocking video has been published on YouTube calling on the community to call Hatzolah if they ever see something like this.
It may be highly disturbing to some to watch in horror as this man lays on the ground for five minutes as no one walks over to see if the man is even alive. But in the hopes of preventing this from ever happening again – it will have been well worth watching it and further publicizing it!
In the video (taken from a security camera), a man is seen walking when he suddenly keels over and suffers a cardiac arrest. People pass by and look – but shockingly keep walking. One woman sees him lying on the floor, stops to look, and then crosses the street as to not walk past him.
Finally, someone calls Hatzolah who arrived seconds after being called. It took FIVE MINUTES after the man collapsed and stopped breathing to start CPR and Paramedics to start Advanced Life Support.
It could have taken 27 seconds – which is when the first pedestrian stops to look at the man.
What is nothing less then a miracle, this individual – an Einikle of a well-known Rebbe – survived – and has since been released from the hospital.
The video was released by Moment Magazine as an awareness project, calling on people to call for help if they encounter something like this, and not to just walk away.
For YWN readers who are unaware of what happens when someone stops breathing, here are some quick facts:
The brain requires a constant flow of oxygen to function normally.
The heart pumps oxygenated blood throughout the body. Two pairs of large arteries branch throughout the brain. They bring a continuous flow of oxygen and glucose.
The brains have an emergency energy supply for about three minutes. In a cardiac arrest, the brains run out of their emergency power supply of oxygen quickly. If resuscitation isn’t started right away, it will cause damage everywhere and permanent memory problems – if they even survive.
If someone has had a lack of oxygen, there is not one particular place in the brains, but everywhere where normally blood flows. This is called diffuse brain damage = damage anywhere in the brain.
A lack of oxygen from three to nine minutes can result in irreversible brain damage! In case of a cardiac arrest, CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) must be started immediately.
IF YOU DON’T KNOW CPR – LEARN IT NOW AND SAVE A LIFE!
DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!
(Chaim Shapiro – YWN)
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33 Responses
I am so sorry but I don’t believe people in Boro Park left somebody laying on the floor and nobody called Hatzolah. There must have been some reason to this. Did it look staged?
This is so out of character for us as a people. Almost all of us normally would have stopped and callled Hatzolah immediately. Strange indeed. B”H he recovered but please take this to heart and practice the “If you see something say something” mantra.
That’s nuts!
its actually what happens all over, common for people to ignore things like this, they usually dont want to be the one to do different than everyone else, google it.
#1, people are capable of anything and frum people are also capable of anything. Dont be so naive to think we are so perfect. Nothing can be further from the truth. Take this video and learn from it instead of saying it was staged
The person is pretty far away. There is no way to know how he was lying down and maybe he wasn’t noticed. I once saw an obvious non Jewish person lying on the ground bleeding and called 911.
Um very common for 911 to take 4 minutes to come.
Looks like that first lady stuck around and was on the phone.
She most probably called 911 and not Hatzalah
I agree with #1. It’s hard to believe they knew what was going on but just left him there. Many of them actually stopped to look, they didn’t just walk by. Maybe he looked like a homeless person sleeping on the street.
wow this is unbelievable! of course no1 meant bad but WE MUST be observant and make sure that such a incident doesnt happen ever again. and for those who say that they thought he is a homeless WE MUST SAVE A HOMELESS’S LIFE EQUALLY, and a big shout out to the leading moment magazine
I’m sorry but I don’t usually comment here, but I find this article to be very disingenuous. Nobody SAW him having a heart attack. Thats #1.
The Hatzalah who is promoting this story seems to have forgot to also warn people that they bring them to Maimonides. Thats #2.
While Maimonides uses modern techniques to treat heart attacks, it does a very poor job in monitoring patients. Many people have died there because they weren’t looked after for more the 5 minutes. Which brings me to this story – you posted on YouTube to smear this “Shocking” event where it only took five minutes to get him an ambulance.
Moderators Response: Maybe it’s better that you don’t comment here. But to be perfectly honest, you never commented here, and you knew that. You signed up for a username to comment at around 3:30PM – around 40 minutes ago. Why the need to be dishonest?
#1- Of course no one saw him HAVE the heart attack… they “only” saw a lifeless body lying in the middle of a Boro park Street and chose to ignore that.
#2- This video isn’t promoted by Hatzolah. It was promoted by Moment Magazine as an awareness. Maybe read the article next time.
#3- Maimonides Hospital saved this mans life. Not sure why the need to bash them.
#4- YWN didn’t post this on YouTube. Moment magazine did.
#5- Perhaps you are unaware, but there is an organization called Hatzolah. They are a state-of-the-art volunteer ambulance service that has the fastest response time in the United States. Their average response time to a cardiac arrest on a street in Boro Park would most likely be under 90 seconds from the time of calling their hotline.
But other than that, great points sir.
YWN – the date on the video shows 12/3/16 – which was Shabbos. From the people driving, it was most likely NOT shabbos. Can you reach out for clarification on the date? If it was actually Shabbos, it would somewhat explain the [mistaken] hesitancy to call Hatzola.
Moderators Note: It was a Friday morning.
very nice of the commenters for trying to be dan lekaf zechus but u have to face the fact ppl saw somebody on the floor and just walked by and its terrible doesnt matter if hes shikur or homeless etc.thank u very much for moment magazine for addressing this very inportant issue of ppl frightened to be the one 2 help
we should be dan lcaf zechus and not judge
“very nice of the commenters for trying to be dan lekaf zechus but u have to face the fact ppl saw somebody on the floor and just walked by and its terrible doesnt matter if hes shikur or homeless etc.”
You call Hatzolah every time you see a homeless/shikur person sleeping on the street?
Yidden don’t ignore other Yidden in danger. So it must be that they didn’t recognize that this was the case. But why?
Some of them clearly avoided going near him. That would be understandable if they thought he was drunk/dangerous. Perhaps there was vomit near him. Because it’s an unusual situation, the danger may not have registered at all.
this guy is a yungerman with black hat and long suit dosent look like the regelur shikur and homeless…so ye i would call in this case
This reminds me of the story of Leiby Kletzky z’l. Videos show him asking many frum looking people for assistance but being turned away. Unfortunately, we know the rest of the story.
We should be zoche to learn that helping others is a very big mitzva under the category of gemillas chassadim.
In the first 3 minutes, two people walked by who may or may not have been Jewish and who may our may not have seen the person on the ground. Several seconds later someone seems to be taking out a phone can making a call. I see no evidence to justify the conclusion that yidden willfully ignored a fellow yid who obviously needed help.
As have been proven time and again, its dangerous to jump to conclusions on the basis of what you see on a fuzzy, distant security video.
Anyone who knows our community even a little bit knows that it is incredible that multiple yidden would knowingly walk by another yid in distress and not do something to assist. Since it is not credible, I don’t credit it and I don’t think anyone else should, either.
There is such a thing as diyun l’kav zechus but even without that, simple common sense should be sufficient to make it obvious that our community has been falsely maligned.
There are two possible intentions in reporting this and presenting this video clip.
#1 – Promote awareness. It makes no difference if the victim was any other religion, nationality, race, or culture. There is a point to make that passersby ignore a serious situation. In fact, even if this video is staged, it still gives the message. Frankly, my amateur opinion is that this was staged. Too much looks unreal.
#2 – To make a painful derogatory statement about Klal Yisroel. I applaud the magazine for presenting this as an awareness matter. I am less positive about YWN making these statements if they are denigrating to the community. We are all entitled to opinions, but this is a frank accusation. I do not know if it is true. But it would be more fair to promote awareness of a problem. Hatzoloh and other organizations do this all the time. It’s the accusations that are not appropriate for YWN or other media.
I usually vehemently disagree and have got into countless fights with the moderaters (they once put out my email adress for which i will NEVER fogive the person who did it) however in this case they are right on….i dont know if the first couple of comentators are in the need of help especially Newscomment.
i think before we judge the story !
we should find out from 911 and Hatzalah
when they got the call !!!!
I agree. I am quite dubious that people saw a person under cardiac arrest and just keep walking. You cannot see any details at all from the video.
Although this appears shocking ,Psychologists call this phenomenon the bystander effect. Simply put when we see some one in need for help we naturally feel the responsibility to assist this person; since we are the only being there the responsibility lies solely on us However the more people watching (bystanders) the more the responsibility is diffused( spread) throughout all of the bystanders and now everyone does not feel the responsibility as much thereby no one acts on it
As someone mentioned the video date clearly says 12/3 which was Shabbos not Friday. That would explain the total lack of traffic on a BP street.
cmon look how the people are dressed do they look shabbosdig to u ?
I don’t think it was Shabbos because this Jewish girl with the red skirt who was passing by seemed to be talking on the phone
I’m a certified CPR instructor, this is sad! My company name is Save a Life and I mean it. Imagine if one of them knew CPR they could’ve been the one to save a life. LEARN CPR SAVE A LIFE!
No doubt that if these people passing by had an inkling of his being in cardiac arrest, they would have made a call instantly.
The people appear wholly confused, unable to process what they are seeing, and hesitant to approach out of concern that it may be someone they don’t want to get involved with.
I think more than discussing the merits of CPR, it may be more crucial to emphasize the importance of calling Hatzalah to investigate ANY person passed out (I think many would hesitate to attempt resuscitation requiring direct contact with a stranger without the use of protective gear).
Even if a person is intoxicated, he could be suffering from alcohol poisoning, and might need immediate medical assistance.
really disgusting especially to see yeshivish men walking by and not even stopping to see if the man is ok.
terrible reflection on yiddisha derech eretz.
I once was walking with my kids and saw an old man laying on the ground, his color didn’t look good, I IMMEDIATELY called an ambulance. But yes, there were people walking by and ignoring him (this is in Israel in a frum neighborhood). I was quite shocked by their apathy.
The non Jews i can understand but the YIDDEN!?? Are you kiddin’ me? C’mon USA, wake up. This would have never have happened in Israel.
Whether that a person was wearing a Burrka, or a non jew. It just wouldn’t have mattered. I promise you with that kind of foot traffic CPR would have been administered or in the least attention drawn to the fallen in less than a minute.
SHAME ON YOU!
Reason #613 to come home to Israel.
@mommamia22 being properly trained in CPR give one the knowledge to differentiate between the intoxicated and the (clinically) dead. Also there’s something called hands only CPR and if you weren’t trained properly and don’t know what that is, at least the good samaritan is trained and would’ve called EMS.
It says he is a einikl of a renowned Rebbe. just wondering why didnt anyone recognize him. and please anyone if you see some1 on the floor do not assume hes a homeless guy sleeping. youve got only to gain by calling for help. no one will be angry at you if its a false call