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This Is Mommy Blogging

As a woman was attacked by a man with a knife Alfredo Tale-Yax intervened. He was stabbed several times in the chest and collapsed on a New York City street.

One man stopped to take a picture of Tale-Yax with his camera phone, dozens of people walked by, but no one helped.

Alfredo Tale-Yax died at 31, homeless in New York City. Get mad.

21 thoughts on “This Is Mommy Blogging”

  1. Sickened. We have become a passerby society. We don’t think we are responsible for helping our fellow man. We are no better than the child on the playground that watches as a classmate is bullied but remains silent.

  2. I’m not about to say that where I live is perfect, because I’m fully aware it isn’t.

    But I am glad that this little bubble I live in here in rural, southwest Virginia exists – because that would never happen here. Someone, at least one person, would stop to help. I just can’t believe that we forget about our fellow men and women so quickly. We are a nation of “I” and individuals, when we should be a community – a network of families reaching higher towards a common goal: love.

    It makes me mad. And it breaks my heart. That man could be anyone’s father, brother, son, cousin, uncle, friend. It could be me or you just as easily. And that’s terrifying.

  3. the sad thing is, i remember stuff like this happening when i was younger. i recall having a big discussion during sunday school about this exact type of incident.
    it’s unreal that things haven’t, nor will they ever, change.

  4. Sadly this is not new. Look up Kitty Genovese and you’ll find another example of people ignoring a cry for help. The homeless have become so prevalent in so many cities that people aren’t shocked anymore.

    Every day we drive by people that stand on the side of the road, on freeway off ramps and street corners with signs asking for help. Some of them ask for money, some of them ask for a job to make money.

    Most people ignore them. I am not trying to say that I am any better, just pointing out how common it is not to notice people.

  5. Jess, I hope you know me enough to know that I am not a person who would ever think about walking past someone who is in need of help.

    But, sadly enough, I have done this exact thing. I remember a few years ago, hosting 13 people in town for a large gathering; walking though the meat packing district and we all passed by a homeless person seemingly sleeping in a garbage bag. We joked that he could be a dead body ala The Sopranos, and yet we all, ALL 13 of us, respectful, God fearing, GOOD people, walked past this person.

    It is shameful. And disgusting. It really, really saddens me. I could have walked past someone I could have helped, I walk past someone like this every time I am walking the NYC streets.

    I am filled with ick.

  6. Where the hell was the woman he tried to help? WHy didn’t she call the cops? I don’t understand how someone could selflessly risk his life to help her and she didn’t even call the cops for him. This is ridiculous and an affront to humanity! What kind of world do we live in that we don’t at least call the cops to check on him? I understand not poking around at a man on the ground but did they not even look? Seems there would have been blood surrounding him from the stab wounds.AT the very least, I would think someone would have called the cops to come and see if he was dead or alive.

  7. There are so many people sleeping on the streets of NYC that it becomes part of the scenery. You cannot assume that every person that you pass is dead. The authorities would not be happy to receive hundreds of calls every day just because a homeless person is either sleeping or passed out (due to drink, drugs or exhaustion).

    It isn’t clear if there was a pool of blood around him, which would change my opinion of what happened. If there is blood, someone should have called 911. I agree – the woman he helped should have called 911. But it is possible that she was confused as to what this man tried to do, and she may just have been too busy running away…

  8. Dr Oz did a thing on this a few months back. He set up a fake choking act in a restaurant and more than 50% of the time people were not helped just stared at like they were aliens. This is so wrong.

  9. What the heck is wrong with people, Why didn’t the woman he helped call the police. People are seriously pathetic. That makes me sick and repulsed.

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