Like if an illegal crossing the border from Mexico into Texas crosses onto a rancher's property and he/she is thirsty and tired, don't the people have to help them?
2007-01-19 08:25:50 · 15 answers · asked by Antis Suck 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Immigration
On Seinfeld yesterday, a fat guy was getting mugged and they stood around watching and laughing and they got arrested for not helping him. They said it was the good samaritan law.
2007-01-19 08:38:38 · update #1
No people do not have to help them. The Good Samaritan law only applies to if you help people and cause damage to them you are not liable. An example, if you are in a car accident and your car is on fire and I pull you out of your car, I am not liable for the fact that you suffered spinal damage as a result of me pulling you from your vehicle. The Good Samartian law does not require me to pull you from your vehicle but it does provide protection from liability, as long as I am not grossly negligent, if I choose to.
2007-01-19 08:30:37 · answer #1 · answered by msi_cord 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Good answers so far on the technical details of Good Sam law, but I will add this caveat: the law generally imposes no duty to rescue others (except spouses & parents vis a vis their own kids) unless you either
a) created the danger that imperils them, or
b) by beginning a rescue you stopped other potential rescuers from acting (that is, if you undertake the rescue and others don't try to save the imperiled because you were doing it, you have a duty to try to complete the rescue. Also, even if there were no other potential rescuers, if when you got closer you saw the imperiled people were Hispanic and decided to abandon the effort, you would be liable.
Closer to your question, then, is that if the rancher affirmatively creates the danger than imperils the aliens or if he undertakes a rescue, then he owes them a duty to rescue them, otherwise, no legal duty, but perhaps a moral or ethical duty.
Here is an illustration from Matthew chapter 12, verse 9 et seq:
Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
Does that mean you can help them evade detection or capture? No, but you can help them keep from dying of starvation or thirst. Temporary shelter would be a much riskier proposition according to the laws of men, and (IMO) not nearly as clear in the scriptures.
2007-01-19 09:07:57 · answer #2 · answered by Captain Obvious! 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No. But that's not exactly how 'good samaritan' means. The good samaritan "law" actually was written to protect good samaritans from being sued for trying to help somebody. For instance, if you come upon a wreck, and you pull a woman and child out of the wreck and the child dies from massive injuries anyway. That law protects you from being sued by the mother (or family) because the baby died. Before the law, things like that happened. You got sued because, through no fault of your actions, the baby died. You could lose everything including your freedom, just for trying to help save a life. Instead of being grateful for her life, mom sued you because the baby died and you were there to blame. Things like that are the reasons doctors never stop and help the injured anymore. A doctor would help, but get sued because he didn't have a whole emergency room in his pocket, regardless how hard he tried.
Illegals aren't here to help anyone but them. They want to earn money and will work for less than you to get 'your' job. That's not good for you or America. An illegal, or anyone, can do a good samaritan act, which is good and respectable. But it doesn't make them any more legal than if they didn't help. The law would protect him from being sued because he couldn't do enough. But that wouldn't make him legal either. Hope I helped you out. But you can't sue me if it didn't help.
2007-01-19 09:06:28 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
If a person is in need of help, you are being a "good samaritan" when you help him. If a person is committing a crime and you help him, you are aiding and abetting, meaning you are also committing a crime. Depends on the circumstances.
Breaking the law is just that, BREAKING THE LAW. Should we help a criminal (someone breaking the law), I think not. If you think so then you must think that we should help all people no matter what.
Carrying that a little bit further, should we then let people out of prison (help them) even though they have broken the law?
You see?...it just depends.
2007-01-19 08:59:04 · answer #4 · answered by SUSAN K 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You may be thinking of the Good Samaritan doctrine. It applies in civil cases. It basically states that, if you are injured helping someone who is severely injured or dying, you can make a claim against the person responsible for the injured party's injury.
There are no statutes that make someone criminally liable if they do not help other people.
2007-01-19 08:33:43 · answer #5 · answered by regerugged 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Illegal aliens are not exempt from the law. The problem is that our duly elected government aren't enforcing those laws, has no intention of doing so, and are always spending so much time, money, and effort trying to avoid their responsibility, that in the end, it would have been cheaper to just enforce the laws.
2016-05-23 22:24:22 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are implying Americans are suppose to give up all their laws, give law breakers our homes, our land, our jobs, our childrens future, our language our culture and our country, NO, we are not held by any, "good Samaritan" law. If you want to give someone a meal, a drink of water, a coat, or a blanket, that's a person's prerogative to do so. To assume a whole country is going throw all its laws, customs, possessions out the window for a group of arrogant people who are not even suppose to be in our country is ridiculous and absurd. I prefer to give where "I" choose to give. I don't beleive our country's leaders should assume we all want to give where THEY do. We should have a choice as to where our tax money is spent. I choose NOT to give a red cent to illegal invaders.
2007-01-19 09:06:42 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You have the good samaritan law backwords.
The law was intended to prevent a person from suing you if you try to help them ,and after they recover they don't sue you for injuring them worse.
for example:
You save a person's life and you cracked one of his ribs,the good samaritan law would protect you because you gave the person mouth to mouth and cpr,but broke his rib in the process.
Get it ?
2007-01-19 08:31:07 · answer #8 · answered by Dfirefox 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Wranglergal's answer, while maybe not the most sensitive some people would like, does bring up a good point here. If you're ever in a situation where you are forced to shoot in self-defense, make sure you shoot to kill. Otherwise, you may find yourself supporting your attacker for the rest of your life! This is something most of us don't like to talk about, but unfortunately, it's true.
2007-01-19 09:05:25 · answer #9 · answered by BuddyL 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Actually, helping them would be aiding and abetting a crime in progess. You are certainly not legally obliged to help someone finish committing an illegal act.
If someone steals a tv set and drops it on their foot on their way home with it, are you obliged to pull your car over and give them a lift? Of course not.
2007-01-19 08:30:41 · answer #10 · answered by Athos 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋