A man lay unconscious on the street for 10 minutes as around 200 oblivious people walked by, a shocked woman has claimed.
He was slumped in the road and struggling in the heat by Bedminster Bridge, Bristol, last week.
Alex Morss came the the rescue and as she stood back and waited for an ambulance to arrive nearby, she was stunned by the lack of care.
She says none of those passing by the sick man would have known help was already on its way.
The author and ecologist told BristolLive she was saddened that nobody was willing to stop and check on him as she stepped away to call 999.
“Two or three dozen people walked right past him while I waited for the lights,” she said.
“No one stopped. A few glanced over and then looked away.
“I drove around the roundabout and pulled up in a parking bay and walked over. Still no one had checked if he was okay.
“For a split second I wondered if he wasn’t breathing. I leaned in close and spoke to him a few times. He didn’t stir but he was breathing.
"I couldn’t wake him up. Several people walked past and remarked that he was ‘just a wasted guy’, ‘just off his nuts’, ‘a waster’, ‘what a mess’. Still no one else stopped."
Alex said she was concerned the man was in a serious medical condition, rather than just asleep.
She said: “You can’t tell if someone needs medical or other help just because they ‘look’ asleep on the street.
"He was still fully coated on a hot day at 5pm, suggesting he’d been there quite a long time.
“What if he had overdosed? What if he was in a diabetic coma? What if he was very sick with Covid or injured?
"What if he’d had a stroke? Everyone has a phone on them these days.
She added: "Everyone can easily ask if someone is okay. Why hesitate? Were they worried about bothering emergency services, feeling awkward and not qualified, or assuming he was just high or drunk?”
Alex called 999 and the call handler decided the man did need help, and dispatched an ambulance.
She waited for the ambulance a short distance away, and watched.
“In the 10 or so minutes it took for an ambulance to come, maybe 200 more people walked passed.
“He was still motionless. None stopped or checked if he was ok. Two women and one man glanced back at him but carried on."
The experience has left Alex even more concerned about the plight of people who are homeless or rough sleeping than before, and is worried the pandemic has made people even less likely to look out for them.
“The emergency services are there for all people who might need help, that includes people who end up collapsed on a street corner,” she said.
