I was eating lunch in the office with 4 other adults one day and I started choking on a piece of chicken. I couldn't talk and all I could do was make hand signals at my throat. Everyone just looked at me with weird looks. I could not believe that 4 intelligent adults couldn't see I was choking!
After what seemed like an eternity, I could feel that I was about to pass out and I grabbed a chair and started trying to do the Heimlich on myself. It was then that it clicked in one of the guy's heads that I was choking and he ran over and practically lifted me off the ground and I hurled a large piece of chicken across the room. (I ended up having to go into emergency surgery because the large jagged half of a wishbone had embedded itself in my esophagus)
I would never have believed that an intelligent adult could watch a person choke to death and not realize what was happening, but I'm a believer now.
I remember when a little girl drowned near a beach that was filled with people. I think I remember that many did notice, but they all figured someone else was going to rescue her.
See? IF YOU WANT SOMETHING DONE DO IT YOURSELVE PEOPLE!
This same exact thing happened to an eldery woman at a table near us in a resturant. She was choking and could not cry out for help. My dad looked over and saw her, ran over and picked her out of her chair and treated her. A piece of meat popped out of her windpipe and hit her daughter in the face. You should have seen the looks on the family faces as this big man runs over and grabs grandma. It was hard not to laugh at the scene.