Why didn't anyone break up Cincinnati beating? Bystander behavior expert explains
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“There’s people trying to defuse the situation, there were people trying to pull other people safety, there were people trying to pull some of the aggressors off,” she said. “So I did see a lot of bystander behavior, even though only one person called 911.”

“There’s also other kinds of behaviors like … maybe more verbal behaviors, placating behaviors as well,” she said later in the interview. 

When it comes to such behavior, Powers explained that there are a wide range of actions people take that could be considered intervention. 

“They do those actions based on what they think is going to help, but also their capability,” she said. 

So why did only one person call the police, as Theetge emphasized? 

Cincinnati Chief of Police Teresa Theetge

Cincinnati Chief of Police Teresa Theetge announces the arrests of two people who were allegedly involved in a fight over the weekend that gained national attention. (Fox News Digital)

“You know, first and foremost, people call the place when they think that they’re going to be able to help in that immediate situation,” Powers said. “We had a lot of people in a very chaotic situation. Folks may have assumed other people were calling the police. So there’s a lot of factors that are based on the dynamics there as to why people might not immediately think to call 911.”

Failing to call 911 in an emergency situation is not abnormal, according to Powers. 

She said that nationwide, only about 10 percent of gunfire is ever called into the police, a claim supported by data collected by the Brookings Institute. 

“This isn’t an anomaly, right? Crime isn’t necessarily called into the police, even under the most dire emergency situations,” Powers said. 

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