Thread: What Have We Become ?

This man filmed a fatal car crash instead of helping.
Then, Ohio police arrested him. The Washington Post - Sarah Larimer - 2 days ago

When Paul Pelton saw the scene of a fatal car crash this week, he didn’t try to comfort the victims, who were both teenagers, and he didn’t help them, authorities say. Instead, according to police, Pelton started filming the scene on his cellphone.

Pelton, 41, is now facing a misdemeanor charge of vehicular trespassing. Police arrested him Wednesday, according to reports, and he has since posted bond.

“We searched to try to find anything to charge him with,” Lorain Police Detective Buddy Sivert told Reuters, noting that Pelton was charged for entering a crime scene, but not for filming what was unfolding there, nor for trying to peddle the footage to news organizations. “It is not a crime to stick a camera where a kid is dying or try to sell it.”

After a Honda sedan flew over railroad tracks and crashed into a house Monday, Pelton filmed the aftermath on his cellphone’s camera, the Northeast Ohio Media Group reports.

The crash happened in Lorain, Ohio, which is about 30 miles from Cleveland.

Others who were in the area tried to help get to the teens, but Pelton didn’t offer any assistance.

“He went right in after the crash, before the rescuers or police arrived,” Sivert said.

According to a police report cited by the Northeast Ohio Media Group, Pelton can be heard in the video referring to the boys trapped in the car as “idiots.”

“He opened a back door and leaned in to film the boys and then walked around to the front door as he continued recording,” the Media Group reported. “At no time did he try to help either of the boys, the report said.”

The driver and the passenger were both 17. One died at an Ohio hospital; the condition of the other victim wasn’t immediately known, according to the Media Group.

Pelton posted the video to Facebook, police allege, and later tried to sell it to multiple TV stations.

“I just wanted to educate people to slow down,” Pelton said in a Facebook apology video, according to an ABC affiliate. “I didn’t do that to have some type of gore video.”

It’s unclear whether Pelton has an attorney.

“The Lorain Police Department would like to remind citizens that they are allowed and encouraged to help one another in emergencies if they can do so safely, and that rendering aid or comfort to a dying young man and his severely injured friend is a commendable and kindly act,” the department said in a news release. “Persons are not, however, allowed to trespass into a person’s vehicle criminally and without permission for the seemingly singular cause of filming a young man’s dying moments, for profit.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/thi...=ansWashpost11

Paul Pelton, 'Bad' Samaritan: Ohio man filmed car crash, refused to help victims
July 16, 2015 - 6:26 PM MST

Meet Paul Pelton, an amateur car crash videographer and all-around numbskull. Pelton, armed with his cell phone, witnessed a horrific crash Monday morning and was first on the scene – not to render aid, but to shoot some grisly footage, which he later tried to hawk to local news outlets for personal gain.

Writes Cleveland.com: “A 41-year-old Lorain man who entered a car to record the aftermath of a fatal Monday morning car crash made no attempt to assist or contact police for help, police said. Paul Pelton was arrested Wednesday and charged with vehicular trespassing, a misdemeanor.”

The car, driven by two 17-year-old teens, was traveling at a high speed and jumped a railroad crossing. The driver of the Honda sedan, Zachary Gooden, lost control, and the car crashed into a nearby home. The passenger in the car, Cameron Friend, was taken to the MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, where he died.

Although bystanders rushed to the scene in an attempt to assist, Pelton continued to film the boys inside of the car, allegedly insulting them for speeding over the tracks. Video taken by Pelton, uploaded on social media under a fake name (and since removed), shows he called the trapped boys “idiots.”

“He went right in after the crash, before the rescuers or police arrived,” said Lorain Police Detective Buddy Sivert.

Fox8 News caught up with Pelton, who said, “I apologize to the family, that’s all I have to say. It’s a very unfortunate situation, it put a lot of people at risk.”

Despite Pelton’s contrition, he professed that the reason he filmed the aftermath was not for personal gain, but as some sort of public service and community message, meant to warn other drivers of the dangers of jumping the tracks near his home.

When he was asked point blank if he should have rendered aid instead of videotaping, Pelton, his eyes downcast, said, “I couldn’t render aid because I’m not a medic.”

Thank goodness for that.


http://www.examiner.com/article/paul...o-help-victims

comments

He should be charged for aggravated harassment since he didn't go to the scene with good intent...POS

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What a lowlife lying pos. He DID try to sell the video. shame on him for being so morally bankrupt as to not even call 911, or telling the kids. help is on the way. He preferred to tell them they were idiots.

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Entering the car without permission is vehicular trespassing. The families can sue him for wrongful death as he impeded others from assisting.

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Wow, really? The loser didn't even call for help? See, this is the kind of stuff that happens when so many people are sued for rendering first aid to people that are injured. Now, if the narcissist are not taking selfies, they are sticking cameras where they should not be. How does a person just stand by and watch another die?

Among people standing by video taping woman trapped in burning car, a 19-year-old old steps in to save her
July 18, 2015 11:39 PM CDT
By Vanessa Paz, Multi-Media Journalist

BEAVERTON, OR (KPTV) - While people were standing by at a Chevron gas station in Beaverton, taking video of a woman trapped inside of her burning car, a 19-year-old came to her rescue. "I wasn't really thinking, I just saw her and knew I had to get her out of there before it gets worse," Phillipe Bittar said after saving the woman's life Saturday.

Bittar was on his way to get some food with his brother when they saw the plume of smoke and fire. But what surprised Bittar wasn't the flames, it was the crowd of people he said standing around, taking video of what he found to be a woman trapped in her burning car.

"There was like six bystanders just videotaping saying 'like oh man she needs to get some help."

Onlookers like Joshua McCool said "there wasn't a whole lot of people trying to get involved."

That's when Bittar took the situation into his own hands. "I told her hey I'm going to pull you out, get away from the window because I have to break it and she's like okay," he described.

The woman was taken by medic crews to a nearby hospital.

And now, Bittar is being called a hero.

"I just did what any person's supposed to do," he said.

Fire crews later said in a statement that Bittar's actions were nothing short of "heroic". They said if he didn't pull the woman out in time, she probably would not have survived.

Crews also said one of Chevron's employees turned off the gas pump right away, preventing the fire from spreading.

Right now the cause of the fire is being investigated.

Bittar walked away with cuts from breaking the window while the woman suffered non-life threatening injuries from smoke inhalation.

http://www.wafb.com/story/29580618/a...autostart=true