I'm a New Yorker & remember the Kitty Genovese thing, even though I was young.
The problem was everyone else thought someone else would call the police or run to the rescue. One famous response was they didn't want to interrupt their Monopoly game.
However, sometimes the whole neighborhood gets involved - one time a guy knocked an old lady down & grabbed her purse, he had to be rescued by the cops.
Good Samaritans in China have lost big time in court is what I've heard, plus its a totally different culture, I cant remember exactly but a study once reported that being injured is like "losing face" ( over there ) & by stopping to help you're causing them embarrassment.
I was riding my bike in Manhattan ( seems like a generation ago ) & saw a young lady take a bad spill, she was Chinese, her friends just stood there and laughed but it was a nervous/embarrassed laugh ... I yelled at them, horrified and helped her up her knee was busted open pretty bad & she was in a good deal of pain. After I helped her up though she didn't want any help & seemed embarrassed ...
Just a different culture, I lived in China town SF, I was getting on a bus when I saw an old Chinese lady struggling to get on board so I moved & held the door for her and a Chinese guy in his thirties practically knocked her over to get on in front of her.
I was thinking about punching him in the face but that was in the old days when I carried without a permit & could not attract much police attention.
