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Daniel Penny And The Uncomfortable Reality Of “Stepping Up”
When doing the right thing goes wrong.
On March 13th, 1964, in the early hours of the morning, a serial killer named Winston Moseley attacked a woman by the name of Kitty Genovese. He stabbed her twice in the back as she walked from her car to her apartment building.
Fortunately, a neighbour heard her screams and shouted, “Let that girl alone,” from his apartment window, which prompted Moseley to run away. But unfortunately, the neighbour didn’t bother to call the police or check if Kitty was okay, so Moseley returned a few minutes later to “finish what [he] set out to do.”
The spot where Moseley found Kitty hiding was in direct line of sight of a different apartment. The guy who lived there even watched from his doorway for a while. But unfortunately, this neighbour was too “tired” to intervene. So he ignored her weakening cries for help and went back to bed.
The attack lasted around thirty-five minutes in total, with several residents admitting that they’d seen or heard Kitty fighting for her life. But none of them did anything to help her.
It was only once the screaming stopped, once Moseley had stabbed her fourteen times, raped her, and fled the scene, that one of Kitty’s neighbours crossed the roof of the…