edit: OK, I'm being downvoted. That's fine. But, why put your irreplaceable life in mortal danger for the sake of keeping hold of replaceable consumer electronics? That's the disconnect I'm finding hard to process.
Someone should have helped her, but with hindsight she didn't want to give up her own electronics and wanted someone else to risk their life for her things.
But this situation is also very traumatic for her so there could be any number of reasons why she chose not to just hand her phone over.
I definitely can understand her being angry, but this isn't really an issue about people not paying attention as much as it is bystander effect (it seems).
Also, although it may be beside the point, you could argue that giving them what they want will just increase muggings. The way to sort out the problem is to relax laws around people helping out victims in cases like this.
I downvoted you because, like the other top posts, your post managed to gather downvotes via emotional appeal, while posts that point out the actual social source of this behavior along with simple and effective advice on how to circumvent it, are left in the middle of this comment section due to lack of emotional appeal.
Yes, the second option did not work as planned, and it is the main point of the article.
And also, did the OP not consider the potential consequences of throwing a boiling drink in the face of another person armed with a knife?
Intend? In the trivial sense, you can guess; in the broad, unknowable.