Shoppers ignored woman dying of stab wound
WICHITA | Stabbing victim LaShanda Calloway lay dying on the floor of a Wichita convenience store.
Instead of dialing 911, five shoppers stepped over Calloway to carry out purchases — and at least one used a cell phone to take pictures of the stabbing victim.
With a murder investigation ongoing, police aren’t releasing the store surveillance video, but they have described the June 23 incident.
“It was tragic to watch,” police spokesman Gordon Bassham said Tuesday. “The fact that people were more interested in taking a picture with a cell phone and shopping for snacks rather than helping this innocent young woman is, frankly, revolting.”
Calloway was stabbed in an altercation at the store, but it was not part of a robbery, Bassham said. It took about two minutes for someone to call 911 to report the crime, he said.
Calloway, 27, died later at a hospital.
Cherish M. McCullough, 19, has been charged with first-degree murder in the case. Another person, who turned himself in a few days later, had not been charged as of Tuesday, according to the Sedgwick County prosecutor’s office.
The Wichita Eagle first reported the killing in a brief.
But only later, after a call from a reader spurred Eagle columnist Mark McCormick to ask more questions, did information about the tape develop. McCormick said the reader complained about a policy that requires emergency medical personnel to wait until police secure a potentially dangerous crime scene before rendering aid.
Wondering whether police response time could have made a difference in the Calloway case, McCormick asked Police Chief Norman Williams about that policy and wrote a column about it.
In a follow-up conversation, the chief mentioned that the response time of passers-by may also be worth questioning, McCormick said.
“It’s on the video,” Williams was quoted in another of McCormick’s columns. “She laid on the floor while people continued to do their shopping. They’re taking photographs. That’s our frustration. They didn’t call immediately. If people would have been calling us, who knows what the outcome might have been.”
Bassham said the district attorney’s office would decide whether any of the shoppers could be charged.
It was uncertain what law, if any, would apply. A Kansas statute for failure to render aid refers only to victims of car accidents.
Bassham said police have heard that the cell-phone photo has appeared on the Internet. However they haven’t been able to substantiate the reports.
“The lack of concern for humanity over this young woman’s life is deeply troubling,” Bassham said.
Two suspects arrested
Two suspects have been arrested in the stabbing. Cherish M. McCullough, 19, was charged with first-degree murder. Another suspect, who turned himself in a few days later, had not yet been charged Tuesday, according to the Sedgwick County prosecutor's office.
Eagle columnist Mark McCormick told The Associated Press he learned about the video when he called Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams to ask about a phone call he had received from a reader complaining about a Police Department policy that requires emergency medical personnel to wait until police secure a crime scene before rendering aid.
"This is just appalling," Williams told the newspaper. "I could continue shopping and not render aid and then take time out to take a picture? That's crazy. What happened to our respect for life?"
Instead of dialing 911, five shoppers stepped over Calloway to carry out purchases — and at least one used a cell phone to take pictures of the stabbing victim.
With a murder investigation ongoing, police aren’t releasing the store surveillance video, but they have described the June 23 incident.
“It was tragic to watch,” police spokesman Gordon Bassham said Tuesday. “The fact that people were more interested in taking a picture with a cell phone and shopping for snacks rather than helping this innocent young woman is, frankly, revolting.”
Calloway was stabbed in an altercation at the store, but it was not part of a robbery, Bassham said. It took about two minutes for someone to call 911 to report the crime, he said.
Calloway, 27, died later at a hospital.
Cherish M. McCullough, 19, has been charged with first-degree murder in the case. Another person, who turned himself in a few days later, had not been charged as of Tuesday, according to the Sedgwick County prosecutor’s office.
The Wichita Eagle first reported the killing in a brief.
But only later, after a call from a reader spurred Eagle columnist Mark McCormick to ask more questions, did information about the tape develop. McCormick said the reader complained about a policy that requires emergency medical personnel to wait until police secure a potentially dangerous crime scene before rendering aid.
Wondering whether police response time could have made a difference in the Calloway case, McCormick asked Police Chief Norman Williams about that policy and wrote a column about it.
In a follow-up conversation, the chief mentioned that the response time of passers-by may also be worth questioning, McCormick said.
“It’s on the video,” Williams was quoted in another of McCormick’s columns. “She laid on the floor while people continued to do their shopping. They’re taking photographs. That’s our frustration. They didn’t call immediately. If people would have been calling us, who knows what the outcome might have been.”
Bassham said the district attorney’s office would decide whether any of the shoppers could be charged.
It was uncertain what law, if any, would apply. A Kansas statute for failure to render aid refers only to victims of car accidents.
Bassham said police have heard that the cell-phone photo has appeared on the Internet. However they haven’t been able to substantiate the reports.
“The lack of concern for humanity over this young woman’s life is deeply troubling,” Bassham said.
Two suspects arrested
Two suspects have been arrested in the stabbing. Cherish M. McCullough, 19, was charged with first-degree murder. Another suspect, who turned himself in a few days later, had not yet been charged Tuesday, according to the Sedgwick County prosecutor's office.
Eagle columnist Mark McCormick told The Associated Press he learned about the video when he called Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams to ask about a phone call he had received from a reader complaining about a Police Department policy that requires emergency medical personnel to wait until police secure a crime scene before rendering aid.
"This is just appalling," Williams told the newspaper. "I could continue shopping and not render aid and then take time out to take a picture? That's crazy. What happened to our respect for life?"
Comment