In all likelihood, the first driver and/or multiple other people who witnessed this DID call police. And two people DID stop to help — the first trying to convince him to be more careful, and the second getting him out from under the car he’d been pulled under. But this was clearly a busy street and he was clearly making repeated runs into traffic in rapid succession. It’s very unlikely that the eventual outcome could have been avoided. Yes, he was obviously very disturbed, and it’s too bad he didn’t get help before it came to this, but it was probably too late to help him by the time he’d made up his mind to get killed by diving in front of moving vehicles.
The name sounds Chinese, and I hope it wasn’t a case of a smuggled illegal immigrant being threatened into despair by smugglers he owed money to, or having his family back in China threatened or already harmed by the smugglers. Sadly this is a very common situation.
“But this was clearly a busy street”
Not. It’s a in a res area - http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&addtohistory=&address=2500%20E%2027th%20St&city=Oakland&state=CA&zipcode=94601%2d1306&country=US&geodiff=1
Midnight - not a main drag - granted not the best neighborhood in Oakland and not the worst. A problem drug area is about 10 blocks north.