Update 11:41am CT, Oct. 14: The Daily Dot reported on the viral incident in May. It re-emerged via TikTok this week. Our original report is below.
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A TikTok of a couple confronting a Chicago police officer has gone viral with over 418,000 views and 50,000 likes since being posted one week ago. In the video, the woman and her boyfriend allege that the officer prevented them from saving a crash victim’s life.
The video, posted by @siabanana, shows a woman off-screen handing a male officer her ID while he writes in a small notebook. There is text on-screen for the duration of the 37-second video that describes the incident.
According to the text, the TikToker witnessed a collision between a Jeep and a motorcycle on May 17 and was the first person on the scene. She kept the victim company until a civilian doctor arrived, and the two of them tried their best to help the motorcyclist without moving him. The TikToker does not mention assisting the Jeep driver.
The officer in the video then arrived and told the TikToker and the doctor to get away from the victim. The TikToker says the officer made “no assessment to check if [the victim] was breathing,” and had “no sense of urgency to help him whatsoever.”
Instead, the officer allegedly began writing a report. When the paramedics arrived, the officer “was talking with them [as] opposed to rushing them to the victim,” the TikToker said. She and her and her boyfriend looked on from a distance for a few minutes until they noticed the victim’s chest stopped moving.
They rushed over to the victim while announcing that he was no longer breathing. “This is when the medic WALKS over and says, ‘Well if the victim’s not breathing, he needs CPR,’” the text reads.
The paramedic reportedly continued the TikToker’s and doctor’s work of cutting the victim’s backpack off—which the officer allegedly interrupted—before administering CPR.
After the victim was placed in an ambulance, the TikToker approached the officer to ask for his name and badge number. “Without even looking at me, he rudely said ‘IT’S ON MY SHIRT,’” the text states.
The officer finally told the TikToker his badge number after she informed him that the glasses case in his pocket was covering it.
He then requested the woman’s ID and said he would be writing her a ticket for “resisting him and not listening when he told [her] to ‘Get AWAY’ from the victim.” After that point, @siabanana’s boyfriend started recording.
“She got up as soon as you said get off,” the TikToker’s boyfriend says. “All she did was try to save this man’s life and tell you the situation, but you ignored her and now he’s dead.”
“What are you even writing up for her?” he continues. The officer does not respond.
The TikToker provided additional context to the situation in the comments of the original video and a second version that does not contain the on-screen text. She wrote that the driver of the Jeep caused the accident. The man allegedly swerved into the motorcyclist’s lane, refused to take a breathalyzer test, and was driving without a valid license.
She also wrote that she attended the victim’s funeral, told his family her story, and showed them the video. The victim was expected to start a teaching position with one of the TikToker’s friends next year.
The TikToker wrote that she “was actually being told about the victim a few days prior to the accident occurring.” She said she believes she was at the scene for a reason and that “destiny is real.”
Many commenters commended @siabanana for her actions and called her an “angel.” Several also told their own stories of similar incidents.
One user commented that their cousin died recently in a motorcycle accident after two ambulances passed him by. “This was also in Chicago. Our cops here let us die,” they wrote.
Users also commented what bystanders should and should not do in the TikToker’s situation. Several noted that Good Samaritan laws protect the TikToker from being sued and would have allowed her to continue providing care to the victim until paramedics—not police—arrived.
Others say not to touch victims of an accident, especially without proper training, and that the officer saved the TikToker from a potential lawsuit.
The Illinois Good Samaritan Act protects medical professionals from lawsuits as long as the care they provide in emergencies is free, “in good faith,” in accordance with their training, and does not constitute misconduct.
The law only protects untrained bystanders in certain situations and it does not specify whether the person providing care has a choice to continue after a police officer asks them to stop. The TikToker made several comments stating that she is a trained medical professional.
The Daily Dot reached out to @siabanana via TikTok comment and to the Chicago Police Department via email. They did not immediately respond.
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