No Duty To Protect

No Duty To Protect

Gun rights activists have long pointed out that, either by statute or court decision, the police in every state are under no obligation to protect you. The results are often really offensive, such as when the D.C. police were clearly negligent in their response--and the results were horrendous, as in Warren v. D.C. (D.C.App. 1981). Still, the alternative--holding the police responsible for failure to act--has some serious problems. The third alternative, of course, is to allow victims to defend themselves.

This April 1, 2009 New York Post article is a similar case--but involves not police but subway workers:

A conductor saw the rape from the window on his train, and a station agent in the booth witnessed a screaming woman being dragged down a staircase inside the desolate 21st Street station of the G line. But neither one left the safety of their assigned posts to help her. Instead, conductor Harmodio Cruz and agent John Koort called the command center to summon cops.

Justice Kevin Kerrigan ruled the two workers had taken "prompt and decisive action in obtaining police help," according to the decision handed down in Queens Supreme Court. The help came far too late for the victim, who was raped on the platform.

Her lawyer, Marc Albert, called Kerrigan's decision "offensive," saying it gives "blanket immunity" for transit workers to ignore straphangers in peril. "Simply pressing the button is enough," lamented Albert. "God forbid citizens are put in a position where municipal workers are not required to act and it leads to harm -- they are left out in the cold."

The victim, an artist, was inside a Queens-bound G train at 2:15 a.m. on June 7, 2005, when the only other person in the car began to touch her feet. She jumped away from him, but the commotion caused her to miss her stop at Greenpoint Avenue.

She got off at the next stop, 21st Street in Long Island City, but as she waited for a Brooklyn-bound train, the same sicko -- who had followed her off the train -- began licking her feet.

She ran up a staircase toward the platform, but the psycho grabbed her in a bear hug and hauled her down the steps.

A police officer is paid to go in harm's way. He is issued a gun, and in most jurisdictions, has certain protections that an ordinary armed citizen does not. Subway workers are not. If they had done so, putting themselves at risk to save this victim, it would have been heroic. I'm disappointed that they weren't prepared to take some chances, but holding them responsible under these circumstances would have been wrong.

Of course, the real solution would be to allow New Yorkers to defend themselves. And we know how liberals feel about that!