Lived many years there myself. I find that usually a general crowd does not act in concert, when in hind sight they might have. There are many cases in which the armchair know-all press cite crowd inertia. Often there is only the one or even two persons who will intervene.
I was a security guard in a large mall in Canada. A two bit low life punk tried to drop kick me to oblivion. 300 watched. Only two men tried to help. Not to cry the blues, but I will wager there are some American security personel out there, had a similiar experience.
For laughs- sitting in the open fast food area,burly middle-aged men afterward, advised me just how THEY would have flattened the punk.
Perhaps there are certain cultures and different American States, where the crowd pitches in- have not heard of them though.
Sounds like a few FR threads I've read lately!
"Perhaps there are certain cultures and different American States, where the crowd pitches in- have not heard of them though."
I think you're correct, most people sit back and watch or run away.
However, not long after 9/11 - that Fall - here in Baltimore I think some guy in a popular bar area tried to molest some girl or something like that. A whole crowd of people turned on him and pummelled him down the street.
My sister thought it was cuz "people aren't going to take any more" after the terrorist attacks. Maybe so, but I haven't heard such stories since!