Watch What Happens When These Bystanders Walk In On A Murder

What would you do if you saw someone being murdered? That’s the fundamental question behind a recent experiment conducted in New York City. With plenty of hidden cameras and two willing actors, the team made it appear as if someone was being choked to death inside an elevator. The situation was then run more than a dozen times to see how unsuspecting bystanders would react.

Not surprisingly, the reactions in the video range from heroic to downright pathetic. Go ahead and take a look at the footage below…

For the sake of humanity, I would like to think that one dude who stops and takes a picture is doing so for evidentiary purposes to give to the police at a later date, but there’s a distinct chance he’s just emailing one of his buddies about the crazy shit he just witnessed. Luckily, there were also plenty of people who stepped in including some tiny women who did everything they could to stop the attack in progress. It takes moxie to do that, but deep down, I’m firmly convinced most people are basically good.

In some way or another, this video has a connection to the upcoming film Dead Man Down, but as for whether the filmmakers paid for this or the subject matter is just similar, that’s unclear at this point. Either way, it’s a fascinating experiment, and I hope someone does a follow-up.