Does the employee have a duty to get involved ?

DoubleNaught, I never said workmans comp should pay. Just pointing out the unfortunate fact that in todays society if you step up to help out someone else in distress, society has a way of making sure you come out worse off.

Business owners and insurance companies will due every thing in there power to make sure they dont pay out any cash for your actions and the local DA is likely make your life miserable if there is any gray areas to your actions. Hell if you use a gun your life will be made miserable even if your actions are lily white. Heaven forbid you accidently hurt the person your trying to help or damage there property, instant sue.
 
DoubleNaught, I never said workmans comp should pay. Just pointing out the unfortunate fact that in todays society if you step up to help out someone else in distress, society has a way of making sure you come out worse off.
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But society did not make the employee worse off.

Business owners and insurance companies will due every thing in there power to make sure they dont pay out any cash for your actions and the local DA is likely make your life miserable if there is any gray areas to your actions.
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There was no reason for the business owner or the insurance company to pay for the employee's actions, so why are you making them out to be bad guys here? The employee had no duty to intervene and they have no duty to pay for his actions.

The DA isn't prosecuting him or doing anything bad to him either, so why are you making the DA look bad here?

Hell if you use a gun your life will be made miserable even if your actions are lily white.
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A gun and so the whole gun issue is moot in this case.
 
DN this hero is being punished/rewarded for his actions. His reward is being called a "hero" by some in society as well as gaining what ever moral comfort he may be getting from doing the "right thing". As for his punishment well the same society sure is not lining up to pay his medical bills now are they.

That's what you get when you go to defend another person. You do a good deed, you put yourself on the hook for cripping finacial ruin and possible legal trouble. In this case the hero is luckly so far hes not getting sued or arrested, its not always like that.
 
"It is not your duty to get involved in a non-life-threatening situation."

I would say that this statement alone is one of the major problems with our country. It is our community, our neighborhood. If I saw a man slap a lady you better believe I would be right in the middle. Not to be some hero, but as a matter of upbringing and morals.

It makes me want to puke when I hear "be a good witness" yes, but the message coveys to people not to get involved, stay in their bubble.

Vent over

Rick
 
I have to jump in here...

1. Sue the SOB that shot him, and hound him till the day he dies....

2. Get a junk yard dog type attorney and go after the employers insurance company.

This very same thing almost happened to me back in the 70's. I was working as a Pilot/Bodyguard in Columbia. One Saturday afternoon I was leaving a resturant. Walking through the parking lot to my car I came upon a Man holding a woman by the throat with one hand whith her head against a car, and smashing it with his fist...blood was everywhere. I grabbed him and proceeded to start breaking a few painful bones when BANG and a shot whisles by my head....hear laying on the ground was the woman that could only see out of one eye holding a revolver and saying in Spanish "Leave my husband alone".

I swung the man beteen us and gave the woman a karatee kick to her one good eye and dropped her husband on top of her....

Would I interveen again.....proabably...but watch the woman this time.
 
DN this hero is being punished/rewarded for his actions. His reward is being called a "hero" by some in society as well as gaining what ever moral comfort he may be getting from doing the "right thing". As for his punishment well the same society sure is not lining up to pay his medical bills now are they.
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Because society is not doing something for this guy that society has no obligation to do then it is punishment? You have got to be kidding me. I am continually amazed by the folks who think society owes them something like this and that if society does not pay up, that they are being wronged by society.

So for y'all that think society should be covering this guy's medical bills, how much money have you sent him? If just 300 of you will write out a $1000 check, he will be in the clear, but you aren't likely to do that, are you?

I have a couple of clues for y'all, society is going to pay a lot of the hero's bills. The hero isn't going to pay them and so the loss has to be made up elsewhere, just like with other indigents who get medical care and cannot pay.

2. Get a junk yard dog type attorney and go after the employers insurance company.
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And on what grounds would you sue?
 
"It is not your duty to get involved in a non-life-threatening situation."

I would say that this statement alone is one of the major problems with our country. It is our community, our neighborhood. If I saw a man slap a lady you better believe I would be right in the middle.
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Let's get some clarity here. Not one person in this thread has said that we should not get involved at all.

NOT ONE.

If you ask me, one of the major problems with this country is people who have no sense of proportion. You have here, right in front of you, a very clear picture of what can happen when someone decides to throw themselves "right in the middle." It's a reasonable guess that this guy has slapped his girlfriend before, and that he's going to slap her again. Tackling him has probably not had much impact on that. I doubt it has made the guy go home and apologize to his girl and mend his ways. All it's done is allowed the employee to feel good about his masculinity and gotten him shot in the gut.

Woo hoo.

A call to the police, getting vehicle registration, etc. might have really accomplished something. There is no guarantee it would have, of course. But acting like Chuck Norris doesn't seem to have done much to help the neighborhood, does it? We have a badly injured employee who may never recover his health and may have a greatly reduced quality of life and length of life, and an agitated shooter at large, and people furious at the store manager as if this were all his fault, and distressed citizens who don't feel safe taking their kids to that McDonald's because there was a shooting there, and people picketing the company (which employs people from the neighborhood, whose job security may be threatened by loss of business) because the media has got them in a lather of protest, and alarm in the community because the guy is still out there, and the employee's family members in a state of distress, and the other employees feeling unsafe about going back to work, and family members of the other employees in a state of distress because their sons/daughters/sisters/brothers/nephews etc. etc. were so close to a shooting, and yet another incident giving fuel to the anti-gunners. And so on. And it all started with a slap!

Well done, Mr. Chuck Norris Hero Guy. I feel so much safer now.
 
Again that's why it was a vent. Would I start throwing the guy a beating? I don't know? Would I jump in? yes....... The quote was aimed at the general attitude of people now days. I think this can be argued so many ways it's not even funny. But the "be a good witness" saying is true but most people stop there. I would hope that if the day ever comes when I need someone to step in...or my daughter needs help, that there are good people to step in.
 
The insurance company claimed he was "on his own time" because he'd punched out.
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Once he is off the clock, he is off the clock.

While this sounds like the insurance company is being weaselly, really they are just abiding by the terms of the contract they have to provide WC insurance.

It is the same reason that many employers require employees to punch out if they leave the place of employment on personal business (such as lunch).

It is not the employer's fault if someone gets in an auto accident while he is at lunch, anymore than it is the employer's fault that an employee punched out, left the premises and than came back at gun point. At least it is not a WC case. You might be able to argue it from another angle, but it is not WC.
 
There are certain levels of response that are appropiate.

Call the police? Yes.

Jump the attacker and lay the smack down? No.

Or maybe you intervene enough so the attack is stopped? Yes.

To date, I have.....:

1. Responded to a fight across the street from my bar, my partner-in-crime at my side, in order to support another one of our bouncers who stepped in on a five vs one battle. Were we covered by our bars insurance? No. But there was no way I was going to let one of my coworkers go into that without backup.

2. Responded to a fight in the parking lot behind the bar, used pepper spray on both combatants.

3. Watched an altercation in the street in front of the bar, between two on one, the sole combatant fought both off, and clearly was the victor. One of his attackers fled, the other was on the ground. We stepped in when the victor started to stomp the guys head into the pavement. Not on our property, but our consciences wouldnt let us watch someone get seriously injured.

4. Responded to a fight outside a convention center, a crowded sidewalk, 6 security tried breaking up a fight, which turned into the combatants friends trying to jump the security. My manager specifically forbid us to go out and assist, (the 6 were on a different crew, hired privately by the events organizers), my conscience wouldnt let me just stand by and watch because my employers insurance wouldnt cover me if I got injured.

There are some things that as a human being, I must abide by. If I am able to stop someone from getting hurt, I will. If I can prevent a crime from occurring, I will. I dont care what my employer says, or if they fire me. I can get another job. I can't get another conscience though.
 
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