Orissa Kelly often travels to Dallas from Britain to showcase her extraordinary talent as a foot archer. She has performed for the Queen of England, competed on Britain’s Got Talent, and entertained royalty in the Middle East.
In all her travels, however, she has never experienced anything like what happened to her during a recent trip to a downtown Dallas 7-11: Kelly was attacked by a woman trying to steal her sunglasses.
Kelly was shocked and frightened by the incident but was even more concerned that during the attack, no one called the police, and no one offered to help.
“The attitude exhibited by the store manager was, ‘This happens all the time,'” says Kelly. “To them, it was … just another situation.”
While Kelly’s experience was unfortunate, it is not unusual to hear of bystanders who do nothing while witnessing acts of violence.
A 2016 study of emotional and physiological desensitization to different types of violence concluded that young adults who had higher levels of exposure to real-life violence exhibited trauma symptoms such as avoidance, escape to fantasy, and reduced empathy and understanding towards others; those exposed to increased levels of violence were more likely to act in ways that are considered ‘apathetic.’
The authors of the study suggested that real-life violence exposure can result in difficulties with social relationships, stating “lower empathy and emotional reactivity to violence may contribute to more violent behavior or failure to intervene as a bystander to violence.”
Kelly explained how the convenience store clerk froze while witnessing her being attacked. During the struggle, Kelly was able to kick the woman off of her and barricade herself inside the convenience store. She found herself holding the door closed while yelling to the young 7-11 clerk (who stood immobilized behind the counter), “Do something! Do something! Get someone! This woman is saying she wants to kill me!”
The clerk’s lack of reaction could have been a state of shock or a lack of empathy. Either way, a delayed response could result in a life or death situation. In this case, Kelly was left bruised and sore from the attack.
In some cases, people do not intervene in an attack for fear of getting hurt or killed. In December 2021, Damion Rodriguez died after he tried to break up a fight on a DART train.
“He said this guy was beating up on his girlfriend, and it was going on for a while, and nobody was doing anything,” Rodriguez’s wife Robbin Rodriguez recounted. When Damion Rodriguez tried to intervene, he was hit in the nose and began bleeding. Several days later, he died due to internal bleeding not initially detected.
A DART spokesman said the incident is under investigation.
In Kelly’s case, she is unsure if her assault was captured on surveillance footage or if the convenience store has put any measures in place to ensure the safety of its patrons. Still, while it seems bystanders may be reluctant to get involved, whether to intervene or seek help from authorities, Kelly hopes more Dallas residents will do their part and say something if they see something.
