mw13 – I believe it absolutely is a chossid shoiteh. There is risk of serious injury here and there would be no chibah involved. One final thing: In the second or 2 that it takes for her to fall, he may be so caught up in trying to be careful about negiah that he may not have enough time to allow his intellect to kick in and save her. Doesn’t make it right, but I think I could understand it unless he justifies it afterward with the excuse of negiah.
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