What is wrong with people?
Thursday, Apr 21, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* One of the most disturbing things you’ll see in a while…
Surveillance video released Wednesday captures the last moments of a popular hotel cocktail server who was punched and knocked unconscious, landing in a Near North crosswalk. The video also shows more than a dozen bystanders failing to come to his aid in the nearly two minutes before a cab accidentally drove over him.
Marques Gaines, 32, died at an area hospital after the incident about 4:20 a.m. Feb. 7 outside a 7-Eleven store in the 400 block of North State Street.
Attorneys for the family released grainy footage from a Chicago police pod camera that captures Gaines falling to the ground after a heavier man wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants and white sneakers apparently knocked him out with a single right-hand punch. Gaines, who had just bought chips inside the 7-Eleven, could be seen running away from his pursuer before he was struck.
Especially troubling for Gaines’ family was that bystanders didn’t help as he lay in the crosswalk. At least one person believed to be a 7-Eleven employee called 911. Others walked past him without trying to pull him out of the street or block traffic.
Within seconds of the punch, a half-dozen people gathered around Gaines, including two men who appear to have rifled through his pockets. Gaines’ family said his cellphone and debit card were stolen. After a minute, the group and his attacker left the scene and as seconds tick away, individuals and groups of people walked by Gaines without trying to pull him out of the street.
Yes, it was really late at night, so people in that area were likely intoxicated and not behaving well. And, yes that one particular block (State and Hubbard) can be a bit rough at times. And it does look like somebody tried to drag him out of the street and failed.
But, man. That video will chill you to the bone.
* Related…
* Grim milestone: More than 1,000 people shot in Chicago this year
- Archiesmom - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:30 am:
This is completely heartbreaking and more than a little chilling. When humanity seems to desert us, when you can’t bother to help a person lying in the street, when you actually rifle his pockets, it makes one wonder what can be next. I brake for squirrels, much less human beings.
- Christopher - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:34 am:
I’m sorry that someone died. I heard that the family is suing both 7-11 and the cab company over the death. I don’t think that 7-11 is liable, especially if the employee was the one who called 911 for help. The cab company running over the person seems to have been the crime, so sue the driver.
- Amalia - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:46 am:
very, very chilling and sad for the victim and his family. did the blow to his head result in him hitting his head as he fell to the ground? will the attacker be pursued by the Sun Times? and those with the attacker?
- Just Me - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:46 am:
State and Hubbard is a war zone at that time of night. Absolutely insane, and the street is a complete parking lot with card stacked on top of each other almost. The Alderman should do something.
- Mason born - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:49 am:
Another example of the loss of Empathy which plagues our society. It’s implausible to think no one couldn’t spare the 2minutes out of their day to block traffic or pull him out of the street.
There is only one person responsible for this death that’s the man who committed the assault. However everyone who walked by him should be ashamed.
- FormerParatrooper - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:58 am:
They should be going after the man who assaulted him. I understand the cab driver being included as he apparently wasn’t paying attention when he drove over him. The assaulter should be liable for everything that occurred since he created the circumstances.
To see this video and how people just ignored a man lying in the street that bothers me at a level I cannot begin to describe. How much have we lost as a society?
- pool boy - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:59 am:
This is a sad day for humanity. Punched for saying something, robbed, left in the street, hit by a car and dies. Tragic.
- Belle - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:02 am:
Mr Gaines’s death is disturbing. I am so sorry for his family but don’t think that a suit against the cab company or 7-11 is going to help but it will keep them busy for awhile.
The people who attacked him are responsible.
This behavior is not the Chicago that I’ve lived in for so many years.
There have been 1,008 people shot since Jan 1. It’s too many. 1 is too many.
I don’t understand what is the cause or why there is so little regard for life?
- cdog - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:03 am:
can’t watch it.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:06 am:
In that neighborhood, 4 a.m. to 5 a.m. is the danger hour. Virtually everyone on the street are those way over-served or those looking to roll them.
After 5 a.m., you’ve got people heading to work at the hotels and to clean up the bars and restaurants.
That’s not to excuse those that walked on by. It’s unforgivable. But you won’t find a representative slice of humanity with its collective head on straight at that hour, by any means.
- Jimmy H - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:39 am:
I can’t watch it, the description is enough for me. I agree with, - Mason born - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 9:49 am: “Another example of the loss of Empathy which plagues our society.”
- Amalia - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 10:59 am:
if in fact the family is suing 7-11 and the cab company they are totally missing the point….the guy who punched him is the responsible party. how the store is liable is beyond me and the cab minimally. but, deeper pockets than thugs, so I guess that is where the grief stricken may turn, but it is not good.
- Archiesmom - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 11:16 am:
I’m being cranky here, but it’s interesting to see how many commenters are trying to figure out who’s ultimately to blame for this man’s death. Isn’t the point that he was ignored, and worse yet, picked over by human vultures?
- Jocko - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 11:38 am:
People never cease to amaze me…in both good and bad ways. I hope those bystanders watch (or hear about) the video and decide to change their lives for the better.
- Mason born - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 11:39 am:
Archiesmom
From the report it looks like the vultures were part of the assailant’s enterouge. If not I completely agree as to their heinousness.
- Zonker - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 12:34 pm:
That cabbie should be tried for negligent manslaughter as a minimum. There’s no excuse for driving over a supine person laying near the street on near the curb. The cab company should pay a steep price for hiring someone like that. Perhaps the worst thing is the people who just let him lie there without calling 911 and protecting him. It looks like the only ones who ran to him were the folks who went through his pockets. That the community hasn’t been outraged by this and called for better police protection is perhaps a sign of why Chicago is dying….
- NorthsideNoMore - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 1:51 pm:
Watch the video the Cabbie didnt see him… Find all the puncher and the others that were in doorway they are the ones responsible and negligent. Very Sad and one more reason NOT to go into certain areas the city at night. Better get things cleaned up in Chitown soon or the commerce in a whole lot areas will be shot (no pun intended)
- Zonker - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 2:53 pm:
IF the cabbie couldn’t see an injured person lying in the gutter where he was heading, he never should have passed the vision test.
- Stumpy's bunker - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 4:13 pm:
Looks like there’s more to come on this story.
There was a CPD unit directly behind this particular taxi. Taxi dash-cam audio picked up electronic police siren blasts. The taxi driver may have been more interested in what was going on in his rear-view mirror, than what was in front of him, as he rounded that corner to either pull over or get out of the way. We can ascertain that this man was run over within several feet of a Chicago Police Officer.
- Stumpy's bunker - Thursday, Apr 21, 16 @ 4:18 pm:
To clarify, the dash-cam audio picked up air-horn blasts of the type produced by electronic sirens used in emergency vehicles.