Further proof humanity has gone to hell........
The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, July 3, 2007
WICHITA — As stabbing victim LaShanda Calloway lay dying on the floor of a Wichita convenience store, five shoppers, including one who stopped to take a picture of her with a cell phone, stepped over the woman, police said.The June 23 incident, captured on a store surveillance video, had received scant news coverage until a columnist for The Wichita Eagle first disclosed today the existence of the video and its contents.
Police have repeatedly refused to release the video, saying it is part of their investigation.
“It was tragic to watch,” police spokesman Gordon Bassham said today. “The fact that people were more interested in taking a picture with a cell phone and shopping for snacks rather than helping this innocent young woman is, frankly, revolting.”
The woman was stabbed during an altercation at the store, but it wasn’t part of a robbery, Bassham said. It took about two minutes for someone to call 911 to report the crime, he said.
Calloway, 27, later died at a hospital from her injuries.
Two suspects have been arrested. Cherish M. McCullough, 19, was charged with first-degree murder. Another suspect, who turned himself in a few days later, hadn’t been charged as of today, according to the Sedgwick County prosecutor’s office.
“The lack of concern for humanity over this young woman’s life is deeply troubling,” Bassham said.
Bassham said the district attorney’s office would have to decide whether any of the shoppers could be charged.
“If the police department wants to present additional charges, we will look at that,” said Georgia Cole, spokeswoman for District Attorney Nola Foulston.
It was uncertain what law, if any, would be applicable. A state statute for failure to render aid specifically refers only to victims of a car accident.
Eagle columnist Mark McCormick told The Associated Press he learned about the video when he called Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams to inquire about a phone call he had received from a reader complaining about a police department policy that requires emergency medical personnel to wait until police secure a crime scene before rendering aid. McCormick said Williams then unloaded on him about the shoppers in the stabbing case.
“This is just appalling,” Williams told the newspaper. “I could continue shopping and not render aid and then take time out to take a picture? That’s crazy. What happened to our respect for life?”
Police have received reports that the photo has shown up on the Internet but haven’t been able to substantiate that, Bassham said.
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