Rant #1,646: Being a Good Samaritan

In March 1964, a horrific crime occurred in New York City, a crime that put in motion various rules, regulations and laws to try to stem such an attack from happening ever again.

Of course, such attacks still occur, but it is hard to estimate how many of these attacks have been nipped in the bud before they were carried out, by the entities now in place to stop them.

Lots of gobbledy gook in those two sentences, but just hear me out.

Kitty Genovese was a barmaid who had just closed up the bar she worked at, and she was going home for the night.

She was in Kew Gardens, a middle class, white/blue collar neighborhood, not as middle class and blue collar as nearby Kew Gardens Hills, where I lived at the time, but a bit of a step up from that neighboring area.

Anyway, while walking home in the middle of the night, Genovese was attacked by Winston Mosely for no apparent reason. As she lay dying on the street, she supposedly screamed for help.

"Help me!" she screamed repeatedly.

But no one did.

And she died right then and there.

No one called the police, no one took heed of what had happened, people pretty much minded their own business, ignoring the pleas for help, and the woman died right there.

Urban legend or not, it demonstrated how callous people can be, showed the world, right or wrong, that New Yorkers are the worst offenders of this callousness, and set in motion bells and whistles we now have in place to prevent such mishaps, including, supposedly, the 911 system, and Good Samaritan laws, all of which are in place not just in New York City, but throughout the country.

Mosely was later arrested, was given a life sentence, and confessed while in prison that he had killed two more people. He was supposed to be put to death prior to New York ridding itself of the death penalty, and lived out his life in prison.

He died this week at age 81.

This crime became one of the most notorious crimes in New York City history, probably right behind the David Berkowitz "Son of Sam" murders that happened years after.

Man's indifference to man--and our society's indifference to human suffering--was played out here. The police estimated that at least 38 people were within earshot of the crime and Genovese's pleas for help, but not one of these people batted an eye.

Although I was a little kid, I knew of this crime, because it happened not too far from where I lived. Both those living in Kew Gardens and Kew Gardens Hills, where I was, were labeled as being indifferent, shallow, callous and fearful.

It was wrong to label everyone in these communities that way, but pre-Internet, this crime was THE talk of the day, and you could not pick up a newspaper without reading about it.

The talk only subsided when the next notorious crime happened--the Alice Crimmins child killing incident--which also happened within earshot of where I lived in Kew Gardens Hills, just a couple of blocks away. I won't get into that one here, but needless to say, Genovese became a memory when this one happened.

Anyway, a couple of years later, my family and I moved out to South Jamaica, Queens, into a new development called Rochdale Village.

In about 1966 or 1967, there was a similar horrific crime, this one happening almost right outside my window, but people evidently learned from the Genovese experience.

This crime did not garner the same national outrage as the Genovese tragedy, but it made a mark on myself and others who were touched by it, and the mark still hasn't gone away.

A resident of our community had just returned from Vietnam, and he was lucky, as he returned without a scratch.

He was walking in the parking lot late at night, and someone tried to mug him for his money. When he refused, he was stabbed.

As he lay dying in the parking lot, he had enough strength to yell, "Mom, I'm hurt, help me!"

And yes, I heard it, we all heard it, and dozens of people called the police, my mother included. She had just finished a Mah Jongg game with some friends, and the whole commotion woke me up. In the still of the night, the cries for help could be heard all over, and this time at least, people took action.

Somehow, the victim was able to crawl to the other side of my street, and his blood stains were right on the sidewalk. They didn't set the area as a crime scene back then, with the standard tape around the area of the crime, so we, as kids, were literally able to go right up and see the blood-stained pavement first hand.

It was chilling, it was really the first time I was ever afraid in my life, and I just remember that myself and other kids my age came to the scene the next morning and just stood around the blood-stained sidewalk, staring and saying nothing.

But at least people did not sit on their hands when this happened.

The Genovese murder was a learning experience for all of us, and this other incident proved that yes, we did learn, and learned well, that you just can't sit around and do nothing when you know something is very wrong.

Mosely has died, so the circle is closed on that crime, but it continues to reverberate today, as we battle terrorists in our midst.

The "see something, say something" edict is a direct relation to the Genovese incident, and happily, people don't stand by anymore, like they did all those years ago, when they see or hear things happening in their midst.

Genovese's murder was horrific, but she will never be forgotten, if for nothing else than it was a wakeup call to all of us.

It is sad that it took a murder to do that.