"murdered by indifference" photographer falls on busy Paris street, received no help for 9 hours.

[Demovictory9]

Photographer Freezes to Death on Busy Paris Street

A well-known 84-year-old photographer died in the middle of a busy Paris street last week after he fell and was ignored by passersby for over nine hours.

Swiss photographer René Robert reportedly left his home at 9:30 pm on Tuesday, January 18th, for his routine evening walk down a bustling road in central Paris when he fell to the ground and was unable to get up.

Robert then lay in the bitter cold for nine hours while being ignored by those traveling up and down the road before a homeless person noticed the motionless figure on the ground the next morning and called emergency services. By the time paramedics arrived to render aid, it was too late: Robert had already succumbed to the cold and had died from hypothermia.

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Journalist Michel Mompontet, a friend of Roberts, Tweeted that the photographer had been “murdered by indifference.”

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“Unable to get up, he remained nailed to the ground in the cold for 9 hours before a homeless man called [emergency services]. Too late. In hypothermia, he could not be brought back to life. For 9 hours no passerby stopped to see why this gentleman was lying on the sidewalk. Nobody.

https://petapixel.com/2022/01/29/photographer-freezes-to-death-on-busy-paris-street/



Photographer’s Death Casts Harsh Light on the Cold Streets of Paris

PARIS — On a cold night last month, René Robert, an 85-year-old Swiss photographer, fell onto the pavement of a busy Parisian street and remained there for hours — seemingly unassisted, apparently ignored by a stream of passers-by. When a medical team eventually arrived, Mr. Robert was found to be unconscious and died later in the hospital of severe hypothermia.

Many in France were appalled by what appeared to be a blatant lack of compassion in the nation’s capital. But making the episode even more poignant were the identities of those who first found him and called for help — two homeless people all too familiar with the daily indifferences of bystanders.

“They say, ‘I am almost invisible, I feel invisible,’” Christophe Robert, the executive director of the Abbé Pierre Foundation, a housing advocacy organization, said of his conversations with homeless people. “And that really resonated with this incident.”

The two homeless people — a man and a woman — called emergency services after spotting Mr. Robert, who was best known for his black-and-white photography of flamenco’s most famous artists, while walking their dog in the early hours of Jan. 20.

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The exact circumstances of the episode are still unclear, but Mr. Robert was in a state of severe hypothermia when an ambulance finally picked him up, according to the Paris Fire Department. For those close to Mr. Robert, that strongly suggests he spent most of the night sprawled on the busy sidewalk.

https://dnyuz.com/2022/02/09/photographers-death-casts-harsh-light-on-the-cold-streets-of-paris/

https://dnyuz.com/2022/02/09/photographers-death-casts-harsh-light-on-the-cold-streets-of-paris/

[secondwind]

1. Very tragic.

It was 9:30 pm when he started his walk. Am thinking the late hour played a part. Especially in January. Poor fella. Rest In Peace. 😢

[Samrob]

2. Only a homeless man stopped to give help. That is the saddest part of the story.

It's usually the poor and disenfranchised that are the most compassionate. "The world is too much with us."

[secondwind]

3. I agree, and I also think that the timeline and the fact that he fell - between a shop and an

optometrist - didn't help either. Terrible story.

[secondwind]

4. by the way, WELCOME TO DU!!!!!!

You will love it here!

[smirkymonkey]

5. I know. I just find it so tragic that so many people would have overlooked this poor soul.

Regardless of one's status, I would always call for help if I saw someone who was injured or incapacitated in public. I would never ignore them. Minutes could be lifesaving. How anyone could ignore a person in need is just beyond me.

[alphafemale]

6. What street anywhere is bustling at 9:30 pm in winter?

I am sure all the businesses would have been closed.

Still tragic.

He also must have also lived alone and had no one expecting him back after his walk.

They would have also raised an alarm.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. In the centre of big cities, many

This was on the street between Les Halles and the Place de la Republique - about 1km north of Notre Dame. City centres have bars and restaurants, and many other businesses stay open late too.