Shoppers walk over woman dying from stab wounds

tadpole256 · 07-05-2007, 09:25 AM

Shoppers walk over woman dying from stab wounds | The Daily Telegraph

SHOPPERS in a US convenience store stepped over a woman dying from stab wounds with one stopping only to take a picture on a mobile phone.
The incident captured on surveillance video in a Kansas convenience store on June 23 of this year shows 27-year-old LaShanda Calloway lying bleeding after being stabbed in a robbery that she was innocently caught up in, AP reports.

It took about two minutes for someone to call police to report the crime while five shoppers stepped over the prone woman, police said.
After finally being attended to Ms Calloway died at a hospital from her injuries.

Police at this stage have refused to release the video, saying it is part of their investigation.

"It was tragic to watch," police spokesman Gordon Bassham said.

"The fact that people were more interested in taking a picture with a cell phone and shopping for snacks rather than helping this innocent young woman is, frankly, revolting."

"The lack of concern for humanity over this young woman's life is deeply troubling," Mr Bassham said.

Mr Bassham said the district attorney's office would have to decide whether any of the shoppers could be charged but ti was uncertain what law, if any, would be applicable..

A state statute for failure to render aid specifically refers only to victims of a car accident.

Two suspects have been arrested in the stabbing. Cherish M McCullough, 19, has been charged with first-degree murder.

Another suspect, who turned himself in a few days later, had not yet been charged today, according to the Sedgwick County prosecutor's office.
Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams told US paper, The Wichita Eagle, which highlighted the incident after it had gained little media coverage that the callousness on display from the shoppers was "appalling"

"I could continue shopping and not render aid and then take time out to take a picture? That's crazy. What happened to our respect for life?"