Disabled man tackles suspected child molester at Westminster Wal-Mart

[Cid_B]

WESTMINSTER, Colo. - It was anything but an ordinary Saturday at the Wal-Mart at 92nd and Sheridan.

Westminster Police confirm that on September 19th, a man grabbed and molested a little girl. Witnesses say he picked her up and was headed for the door.

Bystanders started yelling for help. But no one stopped the suspect, 34-year-old Kevin Salyers. Until something even more unusual happened.

A man working at the Comcast table at the front of the store tackled the suspect. Even more amazing, the Comcast employee, 22-year-old Cameron Aulner was in a wheelchair.

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-wheelchair-wal-mart-arrest-092909,0,4371546.story
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I'm trying to imagine how someone with no use in their legs tackles somebody. Must be some crazy arm strength or something. In any case... good on this guy.

Make a fantastic story for the molester in prison.

[BlooInBloo]

1. Methinks the term "disabled" is being applied *exactly* wrongly, here.

[Cid_B]

4. Article says he lost use of his legs from a fall...

but I get what you are saying.

[badgerpup]

16. You do NOT want to mess with a guy in a wheelchair.

I'm talking about one of the manual ones, not the electric ones...

My ex-sig other had been in a wheelchair all of his life due to spina bifida.
Dude had long, powerful arms and amazing upper body strength.
:wow:

[Jim Sagle]

2. And it may lead to some forcefully delivered lessons of empathy.

[flvegan]

3. "Bystanders started yelling for help. But no one stopped the suspect..."

Thank the gods that Cameron Aulner was there amongst a bunch of potentially suspicious cowards.

[madmusic]

8. Yeah, caught that. What were they waiting for?

There isn't a much better reason to risk a life.

[Journeyman]

11. There have been psychological studies into this phenomenon. . .

When Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in the courtyard of her New York apartment building in 1964, and quite a few neighbors witnessed the attack yet none called the police or did anything to help, her death spurred a lot of psychological research into the phenomenon.

The lack of reaction of numerous neighbors watching the scene prompted research into diffusion of responsibility and the bystander effect. Social psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latané started this line of research, showing that contrary to common expectations, larger numbers of bystanders decrease the likelihood that someone will step forward and help a victim. The reasons include the fact that onlookers see that others are not helping either, that onlookers believe others will know better how to help, and that onlookers feel uncertain about helping while others are watching.

[flvegan]

13. The danger and downside of groupthink.

May the gods deem fit to remove me from the earth before I ever succumb to such a cowardly mentality.

[MadBadger]

5. Why is this being unrecommended? Are people seeing Wal-Mart and automatically unrecommending?

[Forkboy]

6. I'm trying to imagine why none of the other fuckers tried to help.

[Journeyman]

9. Look up Kitty Genovese and the psychological research spurred by her murder. . .

She was stabbed to death in the courtyard of her apartment building, with quite a few neighbors as witnesses yet no one even called the police during the attack, let alone did any attempt to help her.

The lack of reaction of numerous neighbors watching the scene prompted research into diffusion of responsibility and the bystander effect. Social psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latané started this line of research, showing that contrary to common expectations, larger numbers of bystanders decrease the likelihood that someone will step forward and help a victim. The reasons include the fact that onlookers see that others are not helping either, that onlookers believe others will know better how to help, and that onlookers feel uncertain about helping while others are watching.

[Forkboy]

10. I've read about this in the past involving other cases.

And while true, it still drives me nuts. I worry about our species a lot.

[Chulanowa]

14. It's actually part of our species

Psychology is biological, and a lot of it is vastly older than the critter known as "Homo sapiens." There are plenty of other critters that stand there like idiots waiting for "the leader" to take charge of a situation. It's basically a group survival technique - If every member of a monkey troupe is responding to a threat in their individual manner, a few monkeys are probably going to die. If they are guided by the dominant member of the group into a cohesive action (even if that action is just the leader hauling ass) then survival chances for all in the group get better.

Of course, ours is one of the few species around that knows about instinct and is thus able to overcome it. Don't be too hard on those who don't manage it, though - instinct is damnably hard to overcome, especially on the fly after a shock stimulus. I can almost promise that you or I would probably be in that blank-eyed milling crowd waiting for "the leader" to take charge of the situation.

[Forkboy]

15. Points well made.

I shall ponder this further. :toast:

[cutlassmama]

7. When a person loses the ability to use his/her legs their arms

usually gain more strength because they have to pull themselves up in bed and use a wheelchair. They are constantly using their arms and gain a lot of strength in them. It's good that this young man had the arm strength and the good sense to do something in this situation.

[winyanstaz]

12. Now thats a true American hero :)

Good job young man!
And to the rest who stood around and did nothing...shame on you!