Comment on Did I discover a fake conspiracy theory?
Flying_Penguin@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
While good samaritan laws protect people who help others it doesn’t provide immunity. Intentional misconduct or gross negligence are a couple of ways a good samaritan can face legal action. Now, while those are good exceptions to have to protect the victim. Because of a broken/corrupt legal system those exceptions can be used against someone that was just trying to help.
Bottom line: Help others but dont be a hero or a creep. And you reduce your risk of facing charges.
Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 1 day ago
This comes across as if you’re on the side of those peddling this (most likely) fake story. While what you said is true, it comes across as unnecessary at best, and malicious at worst to warn others about the “risks” of helping others. Good Samaritans can face legal trouble, but that’s exceedingly rare.
Always help others if you’re able and do it within a reasonable lens, full stop.
Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Even if the story is mostly fake, it doesn’t absolve the fake guy of being in the wrong.
There’s a difference between someone being accused of this if they were legitimately carrying the girl to safety…and someone being accused of this because they grabbed a girl by the arm and held her there for no other reason than to yell at her for not being careful.
Even if your intentions are technically good, you still have to be aware of the consequences of your own actions. This isn’t to say, “Don’t help people”. It’s more like, “Are you sure what you’re doing is actually helpful?”
Fondots@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I think it might be worth re-reading this comment through the lens of the other comment where you dug up the details of the (alleged) actual story. Not too sure which came first due to the edit in the other comment.
The guy pulled his car over to grab her and lecture her after the incident happened. That’s not ok and shouldn’t be covered under good Samaritan laws. Really that could be grounds for something like assault charges in some jurisdiction. Potentially if she wasn’t a minor she could have even had a decent shot at a self-defense claim if she’d shot him when he grabbed her (this is 'murica after all) he continued to escalate a situation that was already resolved and introduced physical force into circumstances where it wasn’t warranted.
What you probably pictured (I know it’s what I had in mind) was probably more like someone grabbing a girl to keep her from walking into traffic. That would probably be covered under good Samaritan laws.
But holding onto her after that to yell at her probably wouldn’t/shouldn’t, that’s uncalled for, though there may be a little more leeway there since it would still sort of been in the heat of the moment. Odds are probably pretty good that she wouldn’t have even pressed the issue since he just potentially saved her life if that were the case.
As for it being considered a sex offense, I think that’s a case of the laws being poorly-crafted, the insane way we craft laws to “protect the children” (except when the rich and powerful are involved apparently) and the justice system being broken because that aspect of it is kind of bullshit and probably should have been thrown out on appeal. What he did was wrong and I think there should be consequences for that, but I don’t think there’s any reason to think it was wrong in a sexual way unless there are other details to the story that have been glossed over.
Flying_Penguin@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
I dont know anything about this story you mention. What i do know, is that people should understand the risks when they decide to take action. Denying them that knowledge is irresponsible, regardless of how rare those risks occur.
I help if im able and I am happy you do too. But the people that don’t help because they are scared of a potential risk of a lawsuit, I dont hold any ill will against them