Friday Night Lights (Out)..
Last Friday night, around midnight, while driving home from visiting some friends at the beach, I witnessed a pretty major car accident.
I was exiting an expressway near my home, when I heard what sounded like glass and metal being dumped into a dumpster. It was really loud and got louder when I opened the car window. I slowed down as I though I was making the noise, but on my left, I saw a large dust cloud growing from the entrance to the expressway going in the opposite direction.
As I slowed, the sound subsided and then I began to see a car flipped over on the side street adjacent to the entrance. He had bounced off a guard rail, gone through the dirt median ripped through a chain linked fence and then slid to a stop about 50 feet from where this all started.
I sped up and whipped a U turn while getting cell phone out and dialed 911. I got to the scene and pointed to car towards what was left of this car as the 911 operator came on the line. I gave her my location and what was happening. She said that she was dispatching rescue and wanted to get some more details. I got out of the car and slowly started to walk over. She asked if there were injuries and that's when it hit me. I was about to walk over and see a dead person or persons for the first time in my life. The accident was terrible. I couldn't even tell what kind of car it was, though it looked like a pickup truck or SUV. It was really totally wrecked with only 3 wheels on it. There were power tools, hand tools, car parts and shrubs scattered over a 50 foot area. It was completely surreal.
As I walked closer to let the operator know how many people were involved, I saw movement. I told the operator I saw someone moving and I was going to find out what condition they were in. This man started to crawl out, even though I told him to slow down and be careful, he just crawled out what was once the drivers window and stood up. He was bleeding from his head and had blood on his shirt. His clothes were ripped and dirty but he was standing up in front of me. I asked if he was alone and he sorta answered 'yeah'. I then asked again, 'were you the only one in the car' and he said 'yes, I'm alone'... I relayed that to the 911 operator and told her I would stay with him until help arrived.
I was trying to get him to move away from the wreck as there was gasoline on the ground and I was worried about the car catching fire. Someone else stopped and people started coming out of their houses. This man started talking to him as I was finishing up with 911 and I asked him if he knew this guy. He said he was his brother and I asked him to take him to the side of the road away from the crash due to the gasoline. They walked off and I finished with 911. I started to hear sirens approaching, which was relieving.
The paramedics showed up about 2 minutes later, pretty good response I thought, and I directed them to the man and confirmed for them that he was alone. Soon after police and fire started showing up. It was an army of help. I stayed by my car and the police asked if I was a witness and I told them what I heard and seen. While I didn't actually see the crash, I was the closest thing they had. One of the officers took my information and report, thanked me and I asked if he wanted me to take off and he said yes. I started to my car and another officer stopped me and asked me to wait as there was junk everywhere and I should wait for the ambulance to leave and I could back out.
I waited about 10 minutes and talked to a police office and a firefighter that were on scene. I mentioned what had gone through my mind earlier about seeing a dead person in that wreck. We then stared at the car and I said, 'Yeah, he crawled right out of that.' They chuckled and the firefighter thanked me for stopping and helping. Who by the way, was a lady firefighter and pretty cute one at that... I think I got turned on by a women in fireman turn-outs and a big plastic hat. Maybe that fetish is for another blog post.. :)
I overheard some of the officers say that he had 'probably' been drinking. His brother was worried about his wife 'killing him'. I told him that at least he wasn't going to be calling his family and telling them the worst news.
In the end, this guy gets a second chance at life. The brother gets a second chance to take care of his brother or a friend that may have been drinking. (I'm not privy to his state, he just seemed stunned to me and I didn't smell any booze) No one was hurt other than the driver and only a car and some public property were damanged. A lesson learned.
Me, I didn't sleep too well. It was pretty disturbing seeing all that. I got me thinking about driving tired and being more assertive with my friends that have had drink or two and want to drive..
Sorry for the not so silly post, but I wanted to get it down.
-bp
I was exiting an expressway near my home, when I heard what sounded like glass and metal being dumped into a dumpster. It was really loud and got louder when I opened the car window. I slowed down as I though I was making the noise, but on my left, I saw a large dust cloud growing from the entrance to the expressway going in the opposite direction.
As I slowed, the sound subsided and then I began to see a car flipped over on the side street adjacent to the entrance. He had bounced off a guard rail, gone through the dirt median ripped through a chain linked fence and then slid to a stop about 50 feet from where this all started.
I sped up and whipped a U turn while getting cell phone out and dialed 911. I got to the scene and pointed to car towards what was left of this car as the 911 operator came on the line. I gave her my location and what was happening. She said that she was dispatching rescue and wanted to get some more details. I got out of the car and slowly started to walk over. She asked if there were injuries and that's when it hit me. I was about to walk over and see a dead person or persons for the first time in my life. The accident was terrible. I couldn't even tell what kind of car it was, though it looked like a pickup truck or SUV. It was really totally wrecked with only 3 wheels on it. There were power tools, hand tools, car parts and shrubs scattered over a 50 foot area. It was completely surreal.
As I walked closer to let the operator know how many people were involved, I saw movement. I told the operator I saw someone moving and I was going to find out what condition they were in. This man started to crawl out, even though I told him to slow down and be careful, he just crawled out what was once the drivers window and stood up. He was bleeding from his head and had blood on his shirt. His clothes were ripped and dirty but he was standing up in front of me. I asked if he was alone and he sorta answered 'yeah'. I then asked again, 'were you the only one in the car' and he said 'yes, I'm alone'... I relayed that to the 911 operator and told her I would stay with him until help arrived.
I was trying to get him to move away from the wreck as there was gasoline on the ground and I was worried about the car catching fire. Someone else stopped and people started coming out of their houses. This man started talking to him as I was finishing up with 911 and I asked him if he knew this guy. He said he was his brother and I asked him to take him to the side of the road away from the crash due to the gasoline. They walked off and I finished with 911. I started to hear sirens approaching, which was relieving.
The paramedics showed up about 2 minutes later, pretty good response I thought, and I directed them to the man and confirmed for them that he was alone. Soon after police and fire started showing up. It was an army of help. I stayed by my car and the police asked if I was a witness and I told them what I heard and seen. While I didn't actually see the crash, I was the closest thing they had. One of the officers took my information and report, thanked me and I asked if he wanted me to take off and he said yes. I started to my car and another officer stopped me and asked me to wait as there was junk everywhere and I should wait for the ambulance to leave and I could back out.
I waited about 10 minutes and talked to a police office and a firefighter that were on scene. I mentioned what had gone through my mind earlier about seeing a dead person in that wreck. We then stared at the car and I said, 'Yeah, he crawled right out of that.' They chuckled and the firefighter thanked me for stopping and helping. Who by the way, was a lady firefighter and pretty cute one at that... I think I got turned on by a women in fireman turn-outs and a big plastic hat. Maybe that fetish is for another blog post.. :)
I overheard some of the officers say that he had 'probably' been drinking. His brother was worried about his wife 'killing him'. I told him that at least he wasn't going to be calling his family and telling them the worst news.
In the end, this guy gets a second chance at life. The brother gets a second chance to take care of his brother or a friend that may have been drinking. (I'm not privy to his state, he just seemed stunned to me and I didn't smell any booze) No one was hurt other than the driver and only a car and some public property were damanged. A lesson learned.
Me, I didn't sleep too well. It was pretty disturbing seeing all that. I got me thinking about driving tired and being more assertive with my friends that have had drink or two and want to drive..
Sorry for the not so silly post, but I wanted to get it down.
-bp
...or driving while gadgeting =)
Posted by
Anonymous |
10:08 AM
That's awful but glad everyone was okay. Imagine if he had been drunk AND messaging someone ...
Posted by
David James |
3:14 PM
Or using the Slingbox to program my Tivo...
Posted by
Scooter |
3:19 PM