Say you're out and about and you hear someone scream "Help!". You run around a corner and see a man forcefully pulling a woman out of a house. She's the one screaming. Do you come to her aid? In this loose recount of a real story, the man was actually an undercover officer arresting prostitute. The bystander drew his gun on the officer and ended up having a bad day.
Not all reasons to keep out are as simple as the bad guy maybe having a weapon or friends or just kicking your ass in general. You may not know who the bad guy is. It could be both or neither of them.
You may go to break up a fight and have both parties turn on you, as happened to a man in California that was nearly beaten to death with skateboards after trying to break up a fight between some teenagers.
Domestic disputes also often go bad for those who intervene with both turning on the helper. Also, even in these, the person winning isn't always the one that started it.
If someone is putting a screaming child into a car, is it an abduction or just a kid being a brat?
The best advice for most situations is to keep your distance, call the police if you think it's necessary, and call out. "Hey, what's going on?!" "The police are coming!" Something along those lines is often enough to stop an altercation. That's why we have security guards (for the most part).
Jumping into an altercation is a big decision. Make sure you have as much information as possible before getting involved. Everyone wants to be a hero, but real situations can be real dangerous and you may make everything worse.
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