He begins his essay by mentioning two famous examples in which bystanders chose
to ignore those who desperately needed help. The first incident happened one night in
March 1964. Twenty-eight-year-old Kitty Genovese was returning home to her apartment
complex in a quiet, respectable neighborhood in Queens, New York. Manager of
a bar in another part of Queens, she was arriving late; it was 3:00 a.m. As she left her
red Fiat and began walking to her apartment, she saw a man walking towards her. He
chased her, caught up with her, and attacked her with a knife. She screamed, “Oh my
God, he stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!” People opened windows, someone
called out, “Let that girl alone,” and several lights went on. But as more than a half hour
passed, none of the witnesses did anything more. The killer had time to drive away, leaving
Ms. Genovese collapsed on the sidewalk, and then to drive back to stab her again.
Thirty-eight people later admitted they had heard Ms. Genovese’s screams, but no one
even called the police until after she was dead.3