This is way out of character for Americans which is why the story gives pause for verification of what really happened...
Correct
Yes, I’ve seen this situation a few times (bereavement or just somebody short on time to make a connection) and people have never been bad about it.
One time I did a 7 mile hike in a state park. I got back to the trail head and some guy’s car overheated and his radiator was out of water. It was a busy day at the trail and there were about 30 people around. People were donating their water to fill this guy’s radiator. Another guy that was a mechanic was giving his car a good once-over. Since this was a state park, one guy drove to a visitor center about a mile away and bought bottles of water for people that had donated their water. The news wants you to think that EVERYBODY would’ve walked past, said “sucks to be you”, and FINALLY one person helped out. That’s not how these things work. Quite the opposite. 99% are decent and want to help but it’s the 1% jerks that get all the attention and media.
The news media is always out to “prove” that people are mean, rotten, and horrible, that’s why we need government to run everybody’s life. Otherwise, we’d all tear each other apart. It’s such crap.