Good Samaritan or Nosy Nancy?

[PNWguy]

Was checking on my dad today, who lives out in the country along Hwy 95. Nearest town is about six miles away. I'm pulling out of his driveway and approach the busy hwy and see a young girl, 13-16yrs old, walking along the shoulder.

She is wearing shorts, flip flops, and has a blanket wrapped around her. Weird.

She sees me coming up the drive and stops nervously along the shoulder. I stop about ten feet from the road and roll down the window. She keeps walking and as she approached the drive, I ask if she's alright or needs help. She starts running across the driveway entrance and doesn't respond.

She stops running about 50' later and keeps walking down the highway.

I called the sheriff's office and told them what I saw. They said they would send a deputy out to make contact with her. So I sat and watched her keep walking down the highway and pass the next house down the road, about a 1/4 mile away.

Pulled out and drove back into town and passed her, still walking clutching the blanket.

Called my brother when I got into town to see what came of it. He is a Detective with the Sheriff's office and said all he could confirm was that she was picked up by a deputy and driven to her mom's house in Viola, which is a small town another 12 miles down the road.

Weird.

Would you have called the cops? Or just minded your own business and went on your way after she refused your offer of help?

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[Siglvr]

That caring people try to help out is always a good thing in my view. Good job.

 

[Kruel J]

I honestly would have just let it go. It doesn't sound like she was in danger and also didn't want any help. There isn't anything wrong with a girl walking in the middle of the day. That being said, the argument could also be made that she may have been a runaway or worse.

Either way, good job.

 

[Joe13]

I wouldn't have made contact given her reaction and not seeking you out for help.

I would have called LEO to check it out.


Have a daughter and unfortunately there is way too much risk interacting with sub 18 girls. They can (and have) accused men of rape etc for attention.


I never ever drove any of my kids friends (all good young ladies) anywhere without my daughter or wife in the car as well for my safety.



Having said that, it's a darn shame that's what I have to do these days to stay safe. Even being accused and not convicted of a crime like that these days is a carrier ender for myself and even possibly my wife.


I grew up out in the country and stopping to offer help is just what we did - it's been a hard habit to curtail.

 

[Tarawa86]

I wouldn't have made contact given her reaction and not seeking you out for help.

I would have called LEO to check it out.


Have a daughter and unfortunately there is way too much risk interacting with sub 18 girls. They can (and have) accused men of rape etc for attention.

This all day long. I wouldn't have touched that one with a 10' pole

 

[Kruel J]

Not everyone needs saving.

 

[Hop Sing]

I think you made the right move - if nothing else it got her off the road, where she was vulnerable to some sicko. Also, I bet you slept better, didn't you?

 

[V4Cascade]

Better safe than sorry. I think you made the right decision. Better that you had called LE than seeing her on a missing persons poster a few days later.

 

[Camelfilter]

Good Sam, definitely. Well done!

 

[American123]

Location makes things different.

Seeing a person walking down the street in a blanket in a urban setting is a common occurrence. Seeing someone out in the middle of nowhere, not so much. Things that are "out of the ordinary" for where you live need extra attention.

Would have done the same thing.

On the flip side, a girl walking alone is right not to interact with people pulling up to talk to them, too many girls on "murder mystery solved" who have done just that.

 

[Kristina]

I agree that you did the right thing given the circumstances. I'm assuming you are male as are most of the people responding here, so something that may not cross your minds is that she may have needed help, but a strange man in a car may set off alarm bells for her. Imagine if she had been raped or abused. How likely is it that she'd respond positively to a unknown male? Women, and young girls especially, live in a different world where we are targeted by bad guys specifically because of our gender - something men can't even begin to relate to.

I hope that none of your daughters/sisters/wives/etc. experience trauma, but if they do and they need help, I hope that someone like @PNWguy gives a sh*t enough to stop and offer them assistance.

 

[Flymph]

You did well, if she lives about 15 miles down the road that's a long walk. There isn't any reason I know of for a kid to be walking that far, a homeless person, or somebody with a dead car, that makes sense. Shouldn't she have been in school anyway?


However, she was smart not to engage with a stranger, especially in the middle of "nowhere"...

 

[NW Backpacker]

Was checking on my dad today, who lives out in the country along Hwy 95. Nearest town is about six miles away. I'm pulling out of his driveway and approach the busy hwy and see a young girl, 13-16yrs old, walking along the shoulder.

She is wearing shorts, flip flops, and has a blanket wrapped around her. Weird.

She sees me coming up the drive and stops nervously along the shoulder. I stop about ten feet from the road and roll down the window. She keeps walking and as she approached the drive, I ask if she's alright or needs help. She starts running across the driveway entrance and doesn't respond.

She stops running about 50' later and keeps walking down the highway.

I called the sheriff's office and told them what I saw. They said they would send a deputy out to make contact with her. So I sat and watched her keep walking down the highway and pass the next house down the road, about a 1/4 mile away.

Pulled out and drove back into town and passed her, still walking clutching the blanket.

Called my brother when I got into town to see what came of it. He is a Detective with the Sheriff's office and said all he could confirm was that she was picked up by a deputy and driven to her mom's house in Viola, which is a small town another 12 miles down the road.

Weird.

Would you have called the cops? Or just minded your own business and went on your way after she refused your offer of help?

You did the right thing.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Prolly was a bath towel.. what with the bath salts and all.

 

[pharmseller]

You did exactly right.

 

[PNWguy]

Ironically, the last time I called in a person walking along highway 95 in a blanket didn't end so well...

Seriously, I was the one who called 911 to report the guy walking along the highway in a blanket. I slowed down to stop to help, but I got a weird feeling. Decided to just call the sheriff's office and let them handle it. Good thing I did, as I was unarmed at the time...

Latah County Deputy cleared in shooting, returns to work

A Latah County sheriff's deputy has returned to work following an internal review of a July shooting incident.

Deputy Phil Gray had been placed on routine paid leave pending an investigation of the July 8 incident in which he shot a Moscow man on south U.S. Highway 95.

Gray returned to work Sunday following completion of an internal investigation. The sheriff's office probe found department procedures had been properly followed, said Darla Buckley, sheriff's support services administrator.

The internal investigation is considered private and will not be released, she said. Gray has worked for the sheriff's office for 10 years.

An earlier Idaho State Police review also found no wrongdoing by Gray.

Sa'id Jihad Yusuf, the man shot by Gray, remains in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, recuperating from wounds to the arm and abdomen.

The ISP review said Gray shot Yusuf after Yusuf rushed the deputy with a large knife. Gray had responded to a report of a man jumping in and out of highway traffic and found Yusuf in the highway about 5 miles north of Genesee.

Yusuf, who has a history of mental illness, allegedly ignored Gray's orders to put down the knife, threatened the deputy and continued to advance on Gray after initial shots were fired.

The first shots fired by Gray struck Yusuf in the thumb, wrist, and bicep of the right arm, according to the ISP investigation. A later shot fired at closer range after Yusuf continued to advance, struck the suspect in the abdomen.

Based on the ISP investigation, Yusuf, also known as Luke Rapp, has been charged by the Latah County Prosecutor's Office with assault with the intent to commit a serious felony.

 

[No_Regerts]

I wouldn't have interacted with her. Stranger Danger. She might have been quicker on the draw to 911 than you and reported a man trying to lure her into a car.

Call me heartless or cynical, its ok.

 

[RVTECH]

Better that you had called LE than seeing her on a missing persons poster a few days later.

Or like the girl in the late 70's who was kidnapped, raped and had her arms cut off.

 

[Alexx1401]

Would you have called the cops? Or just minded your own business and went on your way after she refused your offer of help?

You did exactly what you should have done, call the law and let them deal with it. Something had to be going on and the safest way to handle it is just what you did.

 

[Alexx1401]

Or like the girl in the late 70's who was kidnapped, raped and had her arms cut off.

Remember when they let that freak out of prison? He was on the news crying and whining that no one wanted him living near them and people were mean to him. I know I personally felt real bad for him.