New York police alleged that on April 18 at least twenty people in Jamaica, Queens passed by Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax after he came to the aid of a female attacked by an unknown assailant. A surveillance video showed that for over an hour the homeless Tale-Yax laid bloody and struggling for life on the sidewalk while pedestrians ignored him. One person lifted Tale-Yax’s head momentarily before moving on while another took a photo of him of the dying man with a cell phone. It took almost ninety minutes until someone called emergency services where called yet Tale-Yax was found dead from multiple stab wounds.
The death of Tale-Yax has been compared to that of Kitty Genovese in 1964, which led to increased analysis into the bystander effect. That phenomena- which claims that the more the bystanders the less the chance of help- may’ve manifested itself two Sundays ago. In the end, the body of Tale-Yax is off to Central America for burial:
The Post reports that Tale-Yax was a "Guatemalan immigrant [who] eked out a living working odd jobs, but he was recently out of work and lost his home in Queens." His body is being sent back to Guatemala where his parents live. (Tale-Yax’s cousin Edwin) Tacam said, "He lost his life trying to help someone else — that’s brave. I guess you could say he was a hero."Anyone with tips into the death of the 31-year-old is urged to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
Image- Sky News
Online Sources- Gothamist, NY1, ABC News, Wikipedia, Listverse, Village Voice
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