Makers of Channel 5’s ‘Law and Disorder: Catching Criminals Live’ staged a fake ‘mugging’ incident on a busy street in South London to test how the public reacted.
The clip shows a man approach a woman in the street and within seconds the confrontation became aggressive, with the man grabbing the woman’s handbag.
Despite there being roughly 40 people observing the incident, only 1 person intervened to try and help stop the attack.
The experiment was filmed in 3 stages. The first saw the man approach the woman and start a loud, verbal confrontation. Researchers observing nearby counted dozens of people noticing what was happening, but not one of them got involved.
The attack then became physical with obvious signs of struggle and more people started turning their attentions towards the incident.
The ‘thief,’ who was actually a member of the show’s production team, then grabbed the woman’s mobile phone from her bag and ran off. Only one member of the public tried to stop him.
The hero, David Seal (40), was the only person to step in.
He said: ‘At first I thought it was a couple arguing, and then I looked a bit more and saw the guy grab a phone and headed towards me.’
'I didn't really think, I just stepped out at the right time and half tackled him.’
'It's not always right to intervene - depends on the situation really – but if you feel you can deal with the situation by all means get involved.’
The clip’s release comes after a similar style of social experiment showed 2 girls seemingly lost in a busy shopping centre.
The results showed only 1 out of over 600 people noticed the girls and stopped to offer help
Check out the shocking clip below:
Law and Disorder: Catching Criminals Live is on Channel 5 on Monday and Friday at 10pm.