Standing outside for hours becomes a medical emergency.

While you are screwing around calling restaurants, he would have died of exposure

Why would calling a few places and trying something take hours? What argument is being made with these statements?

He’s waving a shower rod at you.

I saw no indication of that in the article, if you have an alternative source to share, please do so. I wrote previously that I seriously doubted this would’ve been the case. I think this because unless this man was suffering a cognitive impairment or felt he was in danger, he wouldn’t be waving his impromptu cane around. Besides, don’t you think would have been reported in the article if he had been ‘waving’ anything at the woman or her dog?

If he was capable of following directions he would have walked into the police cruiser

Now you’re just taking the piss. He didn’t speak the language the police were saying to him, and in case it’s been forgotten - he couldn’t even see who was yelling at him. Let me take a page from your book of disingenuous arguments, “How many [police] do you know [that] speak Rohingya?”

I’m sorry to be rude but I’ve not got an idea why you have interpreted what I’ve written to indicate I’d watch a person die in the cold rather than make a phone call. Equally as perplexing is why you’ve now repeated yourself that it’s not the woman’s fault for calling the police - I specifically wrote in the comment you initially replied to that I didn’t think it was her fault.

It’s tiring to argue semantics. You and I are, I assume, on the same page in that we wish this man wouldn’t have died. I’m not some villain because I wouldn’t tried to communicate with man before putting him in a situation with modern day police.

While you are screwing around calling restaurants, he would have died of exposure

You pointed out yourself when he was on the doorstep it wasn’t a medical emergency. But even so, try to bring him inside, hand him a blanket, get out the space heater, any number of things. I’m suggesting treating a person like a person, not like a problem.

The obscurity of the language isn’t exactly relevant as I wouldn’t know it was obscure if I didn’t speak it. It could have been Polish, but if I’d never heard a Slavic dialect before, it would’ve been just as uncommon as this man’s spoken tongue.

He was confused, blind and didn’t speak English.

Right, I read the article. I also wrote what I would have done in this very thread. Here’s a link to that comment. The tldr is a community approach, not calling a social worker.

Additionally, it’s now popped into my head that when needing to communicate over a significant language barrier, you could probably just start listing countries and infer by the reaction which country the person is from and have a better bet on determining language.

with innumerable ways to translate speech today

My first thought wouldn’t be to call anyone.

If translation doesn’t pan out, I suppose trying if any neighbours recognize the language would be the next step. Failing at direct communication, take a vague guess at nationality and call ethnic restaurants to see if anyone has a better idea what the language might be? Better yet, community groups would more than likely understand the urgency of the situation and try to help out.

While the man might have been agitated at being lost and not understood, I seriously doubt he’d have been acting in a threatening manner. Just giving him a bottle of water or a snack might have brought him some comfort and made the situation easier to resolve.

There may have been a time when calling the police would be reasonable, but with innumerable ways to translate speech today, a person’s first reaction shouldn’t be calling the boys in blue anymore.

Not to say it’s her fault, obviously the police are incompetent, but it’s not like calling the police is the only option for when someone turns up on your doorstep.