Summary version: A few nights ago, a man, naked and bleeding, went to several houses knocking on the door and yelling for help, asking to be let in. It’s January here in Ohio, and the temperature was in the mid-teens (Fahrenheit).
Would you let the guy in? Ignore him? Call 911 but do nothing else? Throw a blanket out the door for him? Or something else I’m not thinking of?
The resident interviewed in the story chose to call 911, but by the time police arrived, the naked man was gone. They didn’t find him until he had already died from hypothermia, sometime the next day. It’s unclear to me from the story whether the 911 caller made clear to the guy that he was calling 911 and the guy should stay put, or what. The man has a history of mental illness so maybe it wouldn’t have mattered either way.
I picked the third option, but it’s possible I would let him in.
About ten years ago I lived in a house with a porch on the corner of my street and a fairly busy road. One day when I was home alone someone knocked on the door and when I opened it I saw a strange man who appeared to be in extreme discomfort. He said that he had to go to the bathroom really, really bad and asked if he could use mine. I hesitated for a minute, then got my phone, showed him the bathroom, and waited on the porch, phone in hand. My three dogs, who were friendly but protective of me, were still inside the house. The man was in there for quite a while and when he came back out was really grateful and apologetic. As soon as he left I checked the bathroom and other rooms, and everything looked fine. (The only valuables we had were computer-related, and I would have noticed if he’d taken those.) So that worked out fine! The fact that my then husband and I both had, um, digestive issues that could strike without warning helped me empathize with the man.
So while I chose #3, it’s possible I would have actually done #1, depending on how hurt he appeared.
To answer my own question, I am pretty sure I would have thrown blankets and at least water, maybe even food out to him. I doubt I would have let him into the house, but I can’t imagine letting a naked person stand outside my house in January without at least doing something to help him get warm. If I felt his behavior were really unsafe for some reason, I would have opened a front window and thrown the blanket out that way.
Sorry; I maybe should have been more clear that it is a given in the first four options that you would be calling 911. The real question is, what do you do while waiting for them to show up?
The first incident was a man sleeping near the doorway of my downtown St Paul apartment building. He was hungry and it was winter time in Minnesota. I had him come into my apartment while I called over to the local homeless shelter to see if they had room and gave him a box of cereal while he waited.
Another incident was in the same apartment building where there was a domestic violence dispute in the hallway near my apartment door. I was walking in from lunch and a guy was beating his girlfriend and she was curled up in a ball on the ground. I shouldered him off of her, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into my apartment. The door had several dents where he tried to beat it down to be let in. She had blood coming out of her mouth and her lip was swollen. I called the police and he was taken away. The worst part of it was that a couple weeks later I saw the “happy couple” holding hands in the apartment building and they both shot me dirty looks. :mad:
So yeah, I’d probably let that person in. This story is a bit Kitty Genovese-ish in a sad way.
As Suspicious as I would be of the stranger, I would try to find out what’s going on. It wouldn’t be my front door, but the garage fortress from which i could shine a light and take a peek at the situation and let him speak. I hope I could discern the real threats in a matter of seconds?
I’d call 911, toss blankets out the door, wouldn’t let him in, and I wouldn’t go out. I’d let him know that help is on the way, and stay at the doorway until they arrived. However, I live about 5 minutes away from the police & fire station, so I can be pretty certain that qualified help would show up before he froze to death. I don’t know if my answer would change if I lived far away from emergency services.
ETA: I’d probably also be arguing with my wife, who would want to let him in. She’s got a blind spot when it comes to putting yourself at risk to help others.
This. I’d be tempted to let him in, but I’d be too worried about the safety of my wife and kids. I think I’d give him a blanket or some warm clothes, some coffee maybe, and wait for the cops.
If he was badly hurt (you said he was bleeding) I’d call an ambulance instead of the cops, and maybe my sister-in-law who is a nurse and lives down the street.
“Stay inside and call 911 but throw blankets/other materials out to him.”
This covers the closest real world experience I had to this. When my wife and I had our first apartment a lady we did not know from across the courtyard pounded on our door asking for help. We would not let her in and I was not about to confront her enraged boyfriend but we told her we would call the police immediately and I did.
I don’t feel great about this but I also had no desire to endanger myself and especially my wife.
My only interactions with this women prior to this was she wanted to get rid of all the feral cats until the Super and I made her realize we lived behind a restaurant and had a marshy creek behind us and the cats were serving a useful purpose of vermin control. Thankfully this argument convinced her.
Otherwise I did not know much about her. What I did know was she had started a grease fire in her kitchen within the first week she moved in. Her boyfriend and her had gotten into some really loud arguments and at least once after 11pm.
I think I’d go outside to assess him before letting him in, and I might decide not to let him in at all, but I’d certainly try to help him. I might let him in, depending on my impressions.
I’m pretty sure I could defend myself against a half-frozen, already injured, naked (unarmed) guy if it came to that.
Bleeding naked person I don’t know at my front door? I call 911 and stay on the phone with the operator until the police arrive and arm myself in case this situation starts getting a lot worse. He’s not coming in the house since I don’t know if he’s carrying any communicable diseases and biohazards are hard to clean up. I’m not going out there because I don’t know who or what has caused this situation and I don’t want to find myself in the middle of it any more than I already am. I’m also not opening the door to throw him anything, that’s also too dangerous. I feel bad for the guy, but my home and my family come ahead of him.
This would depend on a few things (and, obviously, call 911 is the first step in any scenario). One, is my husband home or am I alone? Because the hubby would not be thrilled with my level of risk-taking if I let strange naked men into the house while he was gone. Two, how crazy is this person acting? If he’s naked but appears basically sane, and the husband is home, it’s possible we’d let him in and get him warm. But if he’s raving and acting violent, he’s probably going to get blankets/warm clothes and can wait for the cops on the porch.