What would you do if you saw this

My friend was being verbally abused in public by her husband, and some people asked her if she was ok. This proved to be a positive turning point for her .. that a neutral person recognised it all for what it was. She has since left and is transformed for the positive. So yes, you did the right thing.

Don't they say that evil flourishes when good men (and women) do nothing? Of course you did the right thing.....whether it helped or not you will never know.

A while ago I hear a disturbance and looked out to see a young man shouting at a woman outside my house, and she was clearly nervous. He then started to try to push her into the passenger seat of his car, but she resisted; at that point I rang 999 . I had a broken arm in a sling and felt in no potision to intervene. The police were helpful and I gave them a running commentary of his haranguing the woman, and his car number. Two PCs arrived and suddenly he calmed down and decided to drive off - the police took the woman with them. They later called back and said he had been visited and given 'some useful advice'. I felt a bit guilty about ringing, but the PC said how would I have felt if it was my daughter - which was a valid point. You never know how these situations might escalate if ignored.

My eldest daughter has intervened twice the first time the wife/girlfriend whatever rounded on her and told her to leave them alone The second time my daughter intervened resulted in police action although the woman ran away so no idea if she was ok but from the descriptions my daughter was able to give the man was apprehended and needed for other things so the police were happy
I think I would do the same thing as I once tackled a guy who was wearing my adult sons footie shirt with his name on the back first he swore it was his but I told him I wasn’t going away until he gave it me and just walked alongside him saying give me that shirt in the end he took it off threw it at me and walked off bare chested with a lot of F s
My son was horrified I’d done that for a shirt but I didn’t think twice I m afraid

You did the right thing and I would have done the same. I have a bus stop outside my house and and a young couple were Ij think waiting for the bus. The man was shouting and holding on to the young woman and she was screaming at him to get off and go away. I opened the front door, phone in hand and shouted at the woman shall I call the police? He let go and ran off. She came over and was very tearful and shaky, she was only 17. We called the police and we had a cup of tea while we waited for them. I am pleased to say he had been in another abusive relationship for which he had already been charged. So some good came of it.
Yes you did the right thing, she was someones daughter.

Good for you Mbra12. You did exactly the right thing. If everything was OK between the couple then no harm was done. If it wasn't then you could have saved her from a beating or worse.

Of course you should get involved and reporting the incident was the right thing to do. If this happened in the street it is not a domestic incident, but a public afresh.

The problem these days is that assailants are often high on drugs and use extreme violence to escape, the police are very wary of being knifed, they are trained and wearing a stab vest.
Don’t take any notice of verbal abuse, if it is serious physical violence call the police

ven the police don't make these calls their priority because they know that the warring couple will continue with their volatile lives

What a very old fashion view. That is what people used to say in the 1970s, I should hope we have moved on from that. If any of the police still hold those views, they will have blood on their hands.

And yes, OP, of course you did the right thing. This is what we all have to do when we see such a situation

Young woman I know was meshed in a relationship with an abusive man. He set on her outside in forecourt of local supermarket. A quick thinking member of the public called 999 & said she’d stand as a witness

Horrible man was arrested & as he had previous form/convictions, bail was declined. He stay locked up on remand until four charges against him were brought to trial, found guilty & served another year.

YW had not been able to break out of the cycle of abuse to leave him - he had been stalking & harassing her for some time - but found to space & support to move on whilst he was locked up.

The catalyst for change was the 999 call & independent member of the public standing as a witness.

Good for you, I hope I would have done the same.

Of course you did right. How would you have felt if the woman was injured or worse, and you had done nothing?

I feel quite tearful reading all your replies. There are so many nasty people out there.

I intervened when I saw three young men walking towards a young man who was alone on a garage forecourt. I realised one of the gang had a claw hammer he was holding by his side. My colleague told me to keep walking and ignore it but I nipped behind the group and asked the petrol pump attendant to phone the police. He then came out with me and told the boys the police were on the way. Fortunately they scarpered.

I would hate to watch the news later and find that someone was seriously injured or died like the poor young girl of 14 who was murdered in a local park last year. If my child was in trouble I hope someone would step up.

I saw a similar incident outside Derby Train Station and I couldn’t help myself. I walked over to the young lady and asked if she needed help, she said she was ok and I left them to it. 5 minutes later she thumped him in the face and knocked him to the ground. Maybe I asked the wrong person if they were ok. After the thump the Station security came out and she scarpered.

I hope to god I too would have the courage and decency to intervene.

Well done, Mbra12 for taking the time out to do something about this situation. I have been in the woman's shoes and nobody ever stepped in to help. Consequently, when late at night I spotted a man towering over a woman and shouting at her, I stopped the car and called to ask if she was ok. The man shouted back that she was ok but I insisted that the woman replied. She said she was but I got my son to go back with me to re-check but they were gone. If nothing else, I hope the man realised that there are people watching who are prepared to step in.

Mbra12, you did the right thing. I only wish the same thing had been done for me.

Background to my story: In England I was coming out of a church driveway, in my (old style, 1980's) mini. The exit was on a blind rise and with cars parked on the road, it limited visibility. But I proceeded very slowly, keeping an eye out for traffic.

Next thing a sleek BMW passed by and screeched to a halt. A man got out of it swearing, cursing, his lady friend sitting pretty in their car. He also threatened to kill me! He wanted me to get out of my car to take a look at a scratch that I had made with my car.

I was s*%t scared and refused to get out of the car and had even rolled window up (I am a very petite woman, under 5ft high). I saw the scratch, acknowledged it and we exchanged details so that his car could be fixed.

Nobody seemed to be about to assist me, nobody from the church seemed to be around. I was left shaking and traumatised by the man's fury.

Later, on reflection, the scratch was in the wrong direction - it had been previously damaged, but I couldn't say anything.

The man turned up at our house the following week, when I was at church at my then husband was resting from a night shift, asking money for his repair - with a receipt for the repair work.

I was scared of people, more so of strangers. I couldn't answer the telephone for quite a while, hated going out on my own. I got to work - work and my house was the only place that I felt safe. I became a recluse at church, and started having panic attacks. Nobody seemed to care what I had gone through even though I had explained. It was always "but you have to go to church". I eventually left that organisation. My then husband was supportive of me but not when it came to leaving the church organisation.

I've not become a hardened person. I still suffer from panic attacks and hate being on my own; hate hearing people getting angry.

Maybe I'm too soft and too sensitive but that is me.

Last year I had to pick up tablets for my dog at the vets. I left my son waiting in the car and was not long getting the tablets. As I came out of the vets I heard shouting coming from across the road a young man was shouting and then grabbed his girlfriend around the neck in those seconds I was thinking what should I do, but at the same time I heard a loud shout and my son was running towards the couple. The man who had hold of his girl-friend spotted my son and immediately began running away and you would think he was running for the Olympics. In fact I was telling my son not to get involved as you never know if these people are carrying weapons these days. My son let him run off and another lady who had seen them also came over. Myself and the lady told the girl she should report him to the police but she did not want to, She said she had moved from her family on the other side of London to be with him and she would return to the flat they had later that evening.
My son told her she should return to her family and get away from him. I tried to get her to come to Costas for a coffee with us as she was crying and upset but she said she would sit in the library which was near where it happened so we left her telling her if it got really bad she must call the police there was nothing more we could do.

Report the incident but never get involved. A friend of ours did this thinking he was coming to the aid of a young lady being attacked by a man. They both turned on him physically and left him with cuts and bruises. So no I would not intervene but alert the police.

I have done something similar. I realised around 11pm in bed one night, that I had no petrol and needed to leave home at 6am the next day. I told my husband but he wouldn’t get out of bed. So I dressed and went out in search of a late night Petrol station.
I headed for the nearest large town 12 miles away. A few miles into the journey, I saw men running down the main road. A bit in front of them I saw a another chap legging it.
I drew alongside him and said quick “ get in”

I was right that the mob behind him were after him, He told me the story of being in the pub, there was an argument, and he already had had a chair thrown at him.
Luckily he directed me to the Petrol Station, and then I took him home. He was a nice young man but drunk.

What a mad thing to do. I just got back into bed next to a sleeping husband. I was lucky not to be attacked....
but I have always been a risk taker.