May 29 2008
More Thoughts on Bad Treatment of Good Samaritan
A first-time commenter, Lee, raised/expanded on some points relevant to the recent stories posted here regarding the Good Samaritan who helped out a random stabbing victim and then the OTHER Good Samaritan who got the cold shoulder by the media and police. I thought I’d post (and slightly edit for space) some of Lee’s comments here, since they do raise some possible issues regarding what really happened during the near tragedy:
1. After reading the piece on Mackenzie Siren, I think Margot Hines should be referred to as “the kind of person who TELLS THE MEDIA that…she had been handing a hamburger to a homeless man.”
2. After the stabbing, Hines’s picture and “story” were all over TV and the papers. Live interviews. Next day photo op visiting the victim in the hospital. “I” did this and “I” did that. She even said she knew what to do coz she took first aid as a camp counsellor and learned what to do from Grey’s Anatomy. Cute.
3. Then - like 5 days later - we find out it was this 23-year old Mackenzie Siren who was standing beside the victim when she was stabbed. It was Siren who called 911. Hines said it was a “passerby” who called. But this Siren kid did not “pass by.” She had the good sense (or maybe the 911 dispatcher told her) to pull her office clothing out of her gym bag and use it as bandages. She said “WE lifted up her shirt and saw the stab wounds,” so I guess by now the Hines woman was on the scene. (Mackenzie, everyone in the neighbourhood ought to take up a collection to buy you a really cool outfit!)
4. I don’t want to sound mean here about the Hines woman. She did a good thing, for sure. But she was the one who put her own face in the media cameras and gave no credit to anyone else. Meanwhile, Siren was collecting her things and waiting in the background to give her witness testimony to the police. I call that class.
5. So yah, the media decided what the reality of that situation was - but, come on, they got a lot of help from Margot Hines, didn’t they?
6. Kudos to Siren for questioning the shoddy treatment she was given by the cops afterwards. I can’t believe they didn’t tell her the stabber had been caught before they sent her to walk home alone in the rain.
7. It creeps me out to think that while I was watching the beaming Margot Hines on the news that night, Mackenzie Siren was at home alone trying to scrub the victim’s blood off of herself.
8. Curious that there’s been nothing in the media about Mackenzie since Sunday. Maybe it’s because all that good samaratin hype around Hines has scared her away from putting herself out there. But could it be that the media is simply embarrassed about handing that title so easily over to someone else and they just want the whole thing to go away now?
I was there when the they had the yellow tape around and saw all the cameras…You say the police made her walk home in the rain? I hate to tell you this but, It wasn’t raining that night. I was out walking with my son that night and if it had been raining I would have called my wife to pick us up.
Instead of just blaming the media, maybe you should check your facts out yourself.
Thank you for the comment, Ray. To clarify, I didn’t say the police made her walk home in the rain; I reported what the media said happened to her. Now, I don’t have a quick link to weather reports dating back to last month, so I cannot verify whether or not it was raining that night.
However, a few days after the incident it would be very easy to confirm or disconfirm. I thus find it hard to believe that the young woman (Ms. Siren) would have lied about the weather conditions. If she had lied about the rain and the media blindly reported the lie, then I think “blaming the media” would still be appropriate, no?
On a final note, I agree with you, Ray, that we should try to check out the facts ourselves. I do try to do that as often as possible. And I am grateful for other readers who do as well and then direct me to extra information. But of all the things you could have jumped on, you’re chastizing me for not having checked the weather? Speaking of which, are you sure that you were out at 9:30 pm? I’m just asking because the story indicated that Ms. Siren said it was 9:30 when she went home, so could it have been raining after you were outside with your son?
You really need to get your facts straight. In reference to #3, I never said “it was a passerby that called 911″. I said ” from across the street, I saw someone on his cell phone, probably calling 911″.
And how about the “cute” remark you made in #2 about learning first aid at camp.
What’s so “cute” about it? First Aid is not “cute”. Its something that should be taken very seriously.