“At the end of the day, there are not many positive things to write about this rescue attempt,” explains coroner Jacques Ramsay, making little effort to hide his dismay. “The indifference of the passengers says a lot about the apathy of citizens.”

It is unclear whether Hebrich would have survived had life-saving measures started sooner. He suffered a deep cut to the right side of his head, multiple skull fractures, and an “unstable” fracture of one of his vertebrae. Ramsay noted that there was blood in his nose and his mouth.

An Algerian native, Hebrich had been an architect by trade. According to his obituary, he established a successful practice in the city of Annaba in the 1990s before moving to Quebec with his wife, Louiza Messal, and two children in the early 2000s. Hebrich was unable to find work in his field, and a slow descent into alcoholism reportedly followed. Much like father-of-two Alain Magloire, who would be shot dead by police two weeks after the métro death, he eventually ended up on the street — invisible and adrift.

“This is not something that really surprises us, at first glance,” said Bernard St-Jacques, a community organizer with local homeless advocacy group RAPSIM. While Hebrich was clearly in distress that night, “sometimes there are people who aren’t in a particularly noticeable position. The situation in the métro is particular like that, because we often see people lying on the ground.”

St-Jacques called the incident “worrisome,” adding that the STM may need to review the instructions given to its employees when it comes to dealing with unusual situations or possible injuries. Like everyone else, he said, they are subject to what has been dubbed “the bystander effect” — wherein people don’t step in because they assume someone else is already doing so.

“We think: ‘Okay, there must be someone coming. This situation makes no sense.’ But that’s not necessarily the case.”

Ramsay makes only one recommendation in his report: that the STM review its response to the incident and check that the proper safety protocols were followed.

mmuise@montrealgazette.com