Casey Howard, 27, of 145 Water St., Northampton, was charged with assaulting a police officer and other alleged crimes after reaching for the officer's gun during a struggle at Thornes Marketplace.
Bystanders watched as a Northampton police officer wrestled with a drug suspect who allegedly went for the officer's gun during a protracted struggle inside Thornes Marketplace.
NORTHAMPTON — The "bystander effect" appears to have been in effect in Northampton last week when no one helped a police officer as he wrestled with a drug suspect who grabbed for the officer's gun during a prolonged struggle at Thornes Marketplace.
Numerous people stood by and watched as Officer Andrew Kohl struggled with the suspect for perhaps as long as four minutes before backup units arrived to help late Thursday afternoon.
"There were a lot of people around," said Northampton Police Lt. Jody Kasper, who was on duty at the time of the incident. She said some onlookers called 911, but no one intervened to help Kohl – even after the suspect allegedly reached for Kohl's gun and it was clear the officer was in trouble.
The pair tussled outside Cornucopia Foods, a shop on the lower floor of the multi-level building at 150 Main St., for about two to four minutes before fellow officers arrived to help Kohl, according to various police accounts.
The bystander effect occurs when the presence of others hinders an individual from intervening in an emergency situation. Social psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley popularized the concept after the notorious murder of Kitty Genovese in Queens in 1964.
Genovese was stabbed to death outside her apartment in the New York City borough, yet witnesses who heard her cries for help allegedly failed to intervene or phone police. At the time, the incident prompted soul-searching among New Yorkers and triggered media outrage about creeping indifference to crime in the city.
The bystander effect asserts that the larger the number of observers to an emergency, the less likely it is that the victim will receive help, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D., writes in Psychology Today. The psychological wisdom holds that if you're the victim, you're better off if one person rather than a crowd is watching your distress.
Latane and Darley attributed the lack of response by bystanders to the "diffusion of responsibility," which postulates that onlookers are more likely to intervene if there are few or no other witnesses present. The other factor in play is "social influence," which maintains that individuals in a group monitor the behavior of those around them to determine how to act.
Another textbook example of the "bystander effect" happened in early December, when 30-year-old Naeem Davis allegedly shoved 58-year-old Ki-Suck Han onto New York City subway tracks ahead of an oncoming train. The act itself triggered outrage, but a front-page photo in the New York Post showing the victim on the tracks moments before he was killed fueled debate about the ethics, or lack thereof, of R. Umar Abbasi, the freelance photographer who shot the now-infamous photo.
Abbasi claims he was trying to use his camera's flash to alert the train operator to stop, but many people wondered why the photographer and other witnesses who were present didn't try to pull Han from the tracks.
The Northampton situation last week, while not as extreme, could have easily turned deadly.
"The situation was particularly scary for the officer because during the struggle a gun fell out of the suspect's waistband," Kasper said.
The weapon turned out to be a "replica handgun," a nonlethal pellet gun that looked real, she said.
Kasper said Kohl and the suspect, 27-year-old Casey Howard, went "back and forth" for some time before additional officers arrived to help. "Unfortunately, it did take a while for backup to get there. He did an outstanding job," Kasper said of Kohl.
During the struggle, Howard managed to remove Kohl's police radio, making it difficult for police to pinpoint the officer's location. "We didn't know where he was, exactly. I was certainly nervous," Kasper said.
The incident began after Kohl checked areas known for drug activity inside the marketplace. "He was checking the bathrooms, intentionally, to check on drug activity and he observed suspicious activity," Kasper said.
Kohl asked Howard and another man to exit the bathroom, at which point Howard bolted and Kohl chased after him. As the two wrestled outside Cornucopia, Howard "did grab at the officer's holstered weapon," Kasper said. At some point, the replica gun fell from Howard's waistband, Kasper said, adding that onlookers apparently thought it was the officer's gun.
Kohl sustained a hand injury that did not require medical attention, Kasper said.
Howard, of 145 Water St., Leeds, was charged with assault and battery on a police officer; assault with a dangerous weapon; disorderly conduct; resisting arrest; marijuana possession with intent to distribute; and possession of Suboxone, a narcotic that's commonly used to treat addiction to heroin and other opiates. He was expected to be arraigned Friday in Northampton District Court, but the outcome of that hearing was not immediately known.
The man who was with Howard in the bathroom was not charged, police said.