But what if it WERE Robert Redford? (the young one)

Shilpa got a pretty big scare last night.

Shilpa was with AMY Day last night, and Amy was driving them home. They stopped at red light at Divisidero and Fell, and out of nowhere some guy opened Shilpa's door and crawled into her lap. He was bloody, and crying "Help me! They are after me!"

He wouldn't get off her and she finally managed to, literally, kick him out, close the door, and they took off. A SFFD ambulance was next to them, and the man went to them next and they turned on their flashing lights and pulled over to attend to him.

Shilpa was still pretty shook up when she called me when she got home.

I admit I wasn't as comforting as I could/should have been as initially the story went a little like this:

Shilpa: "So this guy opens my door and is saying 'help me! help me!' and I finally managed to kick him and get him out and we took off. And he was bleeding and everything."
Me: "A guy, bleeding, frantically asks you for help, and you kick him and run away? Did you at least call 911? What if he had just been mugged or stabbed?"

I was identifying with the guy crying for help. I've been in dodgy situations before and took no comfort in thinking that if I ended up attacked and bleeding in the gutter, an urban passerby would be more likely to pass me by than offer aid.

As more details came out--the guy was a young, bloody, completely drug crazed, aggressive in climbing in Shilpa's lap, yelling in her face, wouldn't let go/get off of her, couldn't communicate rationally-- it became clear that this was not a "Please help me!" scenario a la Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor (or for the younger types, like Lee Stetson grabbing Amanda King in the train station and asking her to give a package to the man wearing a red hat). And the SFFD was there to take care of things after he got kicked to the curb.

But what if the guy who climbed in her lap were the young and beautiful Robert Redford? Would she have still kicked him out?

If it were Wentworth Miller, I'm thinking not.