What is the point of a security guard?

Cameras don't eat doughnuts!

This is disgusting. This is why citizens need to carry guns. The attcker should have been shot multiple times. Seriously. Shot. Multiple. times.

"Observe and report" type rent-a-cops are fine for situations where you're just trying to protect property or whatever. Private (especially unarmed ) security guards are normally strictly forbidden from attempting to physically intervene in ANY sort of situation. It's a huge liability for a private security company if something goes wrong, and could cause them to lose their insurance. And these folks are at the bottom of the pay scale. It's true, as a human being, they should have felt compelled to help the girl. But they could have been afraid of losing their job or getting injured/killed themselves. If these incidents are common in that area, they need to have either armed security with authority to physically intervene, or law enforcement officers.

They should all lose their jobs and the security company should be fired and then sued for the "Good Samaritan" type issue. They saw something and did nothing. They should be held accountable. Thankfully, the girl knew her attackers and the video tape will help convict those involved, but those security guards should be held as accomplices for standing by and letting this happen.

Not much of a "man" if you ask me if a girl can beat up and girl and you stand idly by.............

Actually I like a good bar chick fight with the pulling of the hair and scratching. Kicking people in the head when they are on on the ground must be a ghetto thing.

In my opinion, there is no excuse for 3 grown men to stand around and allow a kid to get beaten up. No excuses.

It appears only one guard was attempting to get the group to back off,they could have formed an arm-linked protective circle around her until police arrived.

quote:

Originally posted by lawguy07:
"Observe and report" type rent-a-cops are fine for situations where you're just trying to protect property or whatever. Private (especially unarmed ) security guards are normally strictly forbidden from attempting to physically intervene in ANY sort of situation. It's a huge liability for a private security company if something goes wrong, and could cause them to lose their insurance. And these folks are at the bottom of the pay scale. It's true, as a human being, they should have felt compelled to help the girl. But they could have been afraid of losing their job or getting injured/killed themselves. If these incidents are common in that area, they need to have either armed security with authority to physically intervene, or law enforcement officers.

In your opinion, how does the liability of being taped not helping a juvenile beating victim (literally at their feet) compare with the liability of being sued for putting their hands on someone in any other act of physical confrontation.

Most likely, a trip to the courthouse is in their future either way. Right?

You asked for my opinion, and that's all this is. I don't know anything about WA law specifically. First, let me say that a previous poster mentioned a "Good Samaritan" law. That doesn't apply here. Good Samaritan laws protect people from liability when they DO attempt to help and something goes wrong. Like trying to do CPR and breaking ribs, etc. As long as you aren't grossly negligent or incompetent to attempt the aid, you can't be sued. As far as this incident, the general rule, as heartless as it may seem, is that you can't be sued (or prosecuted) for failing to aid another person absent a specific duty to do so. Example: I don't have a duty to save a drowning victim, but a lifeguard on duty does. A cop in the situation here would obviously have a duty to help. It's not so clear whether the guards do. If their contract literally says, "observe and report but don't intervene" then maybe not. Common sense and the law unfortunately don't always mesh. So to answer your question, I think they have no legal liability now, but would have if they physically intervened and hurt one of the attackers. I don't agree as a person, but I think that's how the law probably shakes out. Google "Genovese syndrome" to see about similar situations. That was the famous case of a NYC woman who was stabbed to death while no less than 12 people witnessed the attack and no one called for help. The syndrome is basically "someone else will call, I don't need to do anything." But that's not really what happened here because of course the guards were there and knew no one else was going to help.