I doubt you'll discriminate me, if I had a knife.
The story began on the early morning of April 18th, 2010. Hugo was probably minding his own business, waiting for sunrise when he was suddenly thrown into a life-changing situation. He suddenly witnessed a strange man approach a woman with a knife. If you were in Hugo's shoes, what would you do? Quietly turn around and walk the other way, pretending not to see anything? Take a step back and quietly dial the police as the women gets robbed at knife point or stabbed to death? Or would you decide that it would be morally wrong to walk away and run over to the knife-wielding criminal and try to save a person you don't even know, risking your life with every step you take?
What Would You Do?
Admit it, you would either walk away or quietly call the police. Your life isn't worth risking for someone you don't even know, right? Obviously, you're not Hugo. Despite not knowing the victim or suspect, Hugo Tale-Yax ran over to woman and fended off the knife-wielding criminal. Sadly, real life isn't a crazy action movie where you're the main character. Hugo bought enough time for the woman to escape, at the cost of multiple stab wounds into his chest. To put the icing on the cake, he spent his last seconds on his feet, running after the suspect before succumbing to his wounds and collapsing onto the pavement.
Escaping Suspect
Hugo Tale-Yax Giving Chase
Well this is what true Patriotic Americans do right? Wait, he was an immigrant, scratch that. Thankfully, the police were called immediately by the bystanders and/or woman and his life was saved for close-death. Surely, bystanders would put him on a nearby bed, lift him over their heads, carry his heroic body into the ambulance, and salute him as they drive away. Oh wait, he was left on the pavement for nearly two hours before the fire department discovered him.
Not only was he left on the pavement for about two hours, bleeding to death, but at least 25 of his fellow men walked passed him without a thought in the world as he slowly bled to death on the sidewalk. It's the American Dream.
The best part about it was the individual responses. One individual came out of a nearby building, took his phone out, snapped a few pictures, and kept on walking. Others just looked away and continued their daily stroll of ignorance. Some people said that he was on the ground, screaming for help.
As Hugo slowly accepted the cold hearts of his fellow man and passed away, it took almost one hundred and twenty minutes before firefighters discovered Hugo, unintentionally. Firefighters were responding to a non-life threatening at the time, when they found Tale-Yax and discovered that he was dead.
Cops reported only four phone calls at the time of the stabbing, only one vaguely noted a women screaming, but nothing else. According to your common man, a screaming woman is a more appropriate time to call the police than a homeless man on the ground cold with a pool of blood circling him.
One thing I'll point out is, the same woman Hugo saved, did nothing to help him other than scream and walk along as if nothing happened. But hold on a moment, the woman was probably just getting robbed, Hugo probably made a stupid yet heroic move that could have been resolved peacefully and easily. Right?
Later on the investigation, more video evidence suggested that the woman may have known the attacker, which is why nobody has come forth to testify. Thirty minutes before the attack, the woman was walking down the same street with two of her friends, a few minutes after, she was walking alone on the same street, looking across the street at a 'shadowed' individual across the street with Hugo behind both of them. Chances are, someone was going to be stabbed that night.
Top: Hugo Tale-Yax
Center: Suspect
Bottom: Woman
Maybe we can take something from Hugo's final struggles. While we don't all need to be Hugos and fight 'evil' hands on, maybe we don't need to be the ignorant people around him that kept walking passed him. It's the real heroes that are often ignored.
Here's two videos of the actual event recorded by surveillance cameras.