In the week before the Newtown shootings, much attention was paid to the case of a man who pushed a subway rider onto the tracks in New York. The victim was killed by an oncoming train, and the whole horrific episode was captured on film by a New York Post photographer. Two days later, a 30-year-old homeless man named Naeem Davis was charged with second-degree murder in the case, having told police (according to news reports) that “voices in his head that he couldn’t control” prompted him to push the victim onto the tracks and watch him die.
I was interested to note, at the time, that the only ethical question to emerge from this incident was widespread indignation that the Post photographer had taken pictures instead of rushing to the victim’s aid. My own view was that photographers appear to be programmed to take pictures, no matter the circumstances; and that in any case the Post photographer could not have rescued the victim. But no one seemed disturbed by the fact that we have come to accept the presence of violent psychotics in our midst as part of the natural fabric of modern life.
