Last night held a little bit of excitement, enough to keep me jazzed up enough so I couldn't sleep. Another reason for my excitement might have been that I was taking Chris, a gaming group buddy and former student, out to the range in the morning so we could celebrate his birthday. It had been more than a year since I had been able to practice without taking a new shooter along that I would have to watch and encourage, and I was really looking forward to punching some holes in paper at a distance.
We were only a few minutes away from my front door, heading north on the freeway and feeling fine, when a car just in front of us suddenly swerved into the concrete support of a foot bridge that crossed over the road. In less than a second the car had impacted the concrete, violently crumpling in on itself, and spinning around 180 degrees so it was more or less facing the way it had come.
We were completely horrified and shocked at what we had just seen, but Chris works as a security guard at a major hospital so he has seen extreme trauma before. He immediately set his hazard lights and braked over to the shoulder. We were about 100 yards from the wreck.
"Dial 911! " he shouted to me as we both piled out of our respective doors and started to move towards the accident. He called out our precise location so I would know what to say to the dispatcher while he stepped up the pace and outdistanced me. By the time I got to the scene, describing the condition of the single occupant to the woman on the other end of the phone and letting her know that he would have to be cut from the wreckage, Chris had stepped between the injured driver and another motorist who had stopped to help.
"You can't move him!" Chris was forcefully saying. "He has neck and spinal injuries. We have to wait for the squad!"
The other motorist had not been as close to the wreck as we were, and so stopped his car right next to the scene and didn't have to jog 100 yards. He had managed to open the driver's door, and had been about to grab the victim when Chris got in his way. The erstwhile good Samaritan explained in a Somalian accent that we had to move the victim because the car was on fire!
(Please click on all pictures to see if a larger image is available.)
Chris had already noticed the clouds of white smoke that were billowing from the front of the crumpled car, and he had made note of the smell as the water from the smashed radiator sprayed over the hot engine. "That's not smoke." he said. "The car is not on fire."
The driver was obviously in bad shape. It looked like the bones in his left calf had shattered, jagged pieces ripping through his blue jeans from the inside. What scared me the most was that I couldn't see much by the way of blood, indicating to me that flow from the heart was being restricted.
It was really no wonder since he was all twisted up like a corkscrew, everything trying to point in a different direction. The air bags had deployed during the moment of impact, but he had not been wearing his seat belt. It wasn't clear that wearing them would have done any good, though, considering the extreme violence of the collision.
He was still alive. Every few seconds he would spasm a bit, his body weakly trying to sit up. From what I could see of his face, he looked to be unconscious. The movement didn't appear to me to be deliberate.
But the one thing that really scared me was what I saw in the back seat.
It was a child's car seat, smashed apart.
By this time another motorist had stopped, thoughtfully bringing a fire extinguisher from his car. When I mentioned the car seat both he and Chris walked slowly around the accident site, Keeping a sharp eye out. They were looking for a small body which had been ejected from the car. Or pieces of one, at any rate. Lucky thing there didn't seem to be anything to find. It looked like he had been alone.
I kept talking to the guy even though I didn't think he could hear me, wanting there to be an encouraging voice in his ears if he should awaken. ("It's alright! Help is on the way. Just lie quiet and you'll be out of there before you know it. Try to lie still!") Chris and the guy with the fire extinguisher joined me next to the wreckage after their search. The motorist who had been first on the scene, the fellow afraid of fire, folded his hands and prayed. There wasn't anything else we could do.
Traffic was pretty heavy on the highway by this time, what with gawkers slowing down so they could get a look at what was going on. A small pickup with one of those wooden boxes affixed to the bed pulled up and stopped a few feet away from us. It was decorated in the U-Haul colors, but the company logo had been painted over long ago. Judging by the condition of the truck, it was a surplus vehicle that had been sold at auction.
I walked over and stuck my head in the open passenger window so I could thank them for stopping, as well as reassure them that the emergency vehicles were on the way.
"Did you get his wallet?" the driver asked.
I was puzzled for a moment. The only thing that went through my mind was the question: What good would it do to know the accident victim's identity? Even if he had a medical condition of some kind, we were dealing with trauma and not a reaction to a bee sting!
"He's got neck injuries." I explained. "We can't move him."
"You don't have to move him." the driver said. "Just reach in there and get the wallet out of his pocket."
Call me a dope for taking so long, but the light finally dawned. I felt the expression slide off of my face as the blood rushed in, causing my skin to burn. These guys had to be on their way, right then, because I didn't feel like an argument at that moment.
"Here's the police now." I said, nodding at the road behind them and stepping back. "Thank you for stopping."
They didn't say another word. They just put their eyes front, merged back into traffic, and were gone. Just as I figured they would when they heard that the police were coming up behind them.
But the police weren't there, at least not yet. If my memory serves, it took something like fifteen minutes for the Columbus Fire Department to arrive, and another five or so for a police cruiser to make the scene.
When units of the CFD did arrive they were very professional. They had to cut the centerline column out of the car to retrieve the driver, but get him they did. So far as I know he was loaded into the ambulance with everything still in his pockets.
Not that it did much good. We heard from an officer on the scene that the victim was dead almost before the ambulance started to move. It seemed to me that he slipped away without regaining consciousness, and so felt no pain.
Chris and I gave our personal info to the police in case they needed witnesses of the accident, and we trudged back to the car. It wasn't until we were driving down the highway, miles away and mulling over what had happened, before it occurred to us that we had never found out what the victim's name was or where he was from.
Not that it matters anymore, I suppose.
Comments (15)
With injuries that bad, if he wasn't bleeding then he was probably already dead when you got to him. The reason he didn't bleed was that his heart had already stopped.
It's common for dead people to jerk for several minutes, especially after violent deaths. It's something that happens as the nervous system starts to unwind.
You have my sympathy for your horrible experience.
Posted by Steven Den Beste | February 6, 2008 2:27 AM
Posted on February 6, 2008 02:27
By the way, from the sound of it it's possible this was a suicide.
Posted by Steven Den Beste | February 6, 2008 2:28 AM
Posted on February 6, 2008 02:28
I know someone whose grandfather died in a single-car wreck. When he was finally found, all his personal belongings were gone. Someone had already found him, stolen his things, and left him to die.
There are some worthless P.O.S. people out there.
Your story especially saddens me because that car seat in the back suggests that this man was someone's daddy.
Posted by AlanDP | February 6, 2008 6:07 AM
Posted on February 6, 2008 06:07
Dude. You had quite the day.
I'm an EMT, and I've just completed an ITLS (International Trauma Life Support) class. I can say with complete confidence that you and your friend did everything right. If I ever pile up my car on the freeway I hope that the first guy who pulls over does half as well as you two did.
The first and most important thing is to secure the scene - keep yourself safe, prevent the next accident, and call for help. You did this perfectly.
Your friend was also correct to stop the well-meaning bystander from pulling this guy free, an act that not only may have paralyzed him but would probably have caused him to bleed even faster. He gets extra credit for noting that car seat, too. Good catch.
You didn't know it, but that was a perfectly executed, ITLS-approved scene size-up. I've seen rescue squads that wouldn't do half as well.
After that, it was pretty much out of your hands - even if you had a paramedic with you it probably would have ended the same. Major trauma is a 'surgical disease', which can only be fixed in the operating room. The various interventions I've learned may buy a little time but the bottom line for survival is how quickly you get the patient to the table. Making that first, accurate phone call was the biggest thing you could do to help.
You done good. I'm sorry this tragedy had to happen in front of you, but because you were both there, this guy had the best shot he could ask for.
Posted by Mike | February 6, 2008 7:56 AM
Posted on February 6, 2008 07:56
I'm sorry you were part of such trauma. I'm also glad you and Chris were there. In this world inexplicable loss happens, but it helps that there are people willing to try to soften it, prevent further loss, and start healing.
Five years ago I saw something almost similar, but thankfully completely different. On a rainy day I was driving down a freeway in Rochester, New York, when a car a little bit in front of me in the fast lane lost control and spun around 180 degrees, coming to rest in the right-hand shoulder of the freeway facing traffic. Miraculously, the car hit no other cars and, sliding sideways at that point, came to rest parallel to the cement barrier on that side of the road about two feet away from it.
I pulled over, and talked to the other driver for a few minutes. He was badly shaken, of course, but was able to drive away from the scene. As a minister I gave him my business card, saying I would be praying for him and to feel free to call if a brush with death stirred up any issues he needed help processing. He never called. I assume he was fine.
Posted by David V.S. | February 6, 2008 10:18 AM
Posted on February 6, 2008 10:18
Re: the child seat
From what I can see, that seat looks like one of the booster types, for toddlers or bigger, that use the car's seat belts to actually restrain the kid. No kid = no belt used, which would be why the seat was all smashed.
Posted by Heartless Libertarian | February 8, 2008 2:54 PM
Posted on February 8, 2008 14:54
I don't get it. Why would you need his wallet? It *IS* a trauma situation, you should care about something like health insurance even until the ambulance arrives...
What did he want? (call me stupid, but I don't get it).
Besides that, thank you for stopping. The world needs more good men like you.
Janine
Posted by bookmoth | February 8, 2008 4:57 PM
Posted on February 8, 2008 16:57
I don't get it. Why would you need his wallet?
He was suggesting that I rob the victim as he lay dying, and in pain. He'd want a cut, of course, since he came up with the idea.
That is why I got so upset and angry when I figured it out.
It *IS* a trauma situation, you should care about something like health insurance even until the ambulance arrives...
I'm don't work for a hospital, and neither did anyone who stopped. We couldn't charge for our help, so why would we care about insurance?
In my home state of Ohio, they have to treat you for an emergency medical procedure even if no one gets paid. Insurance is something that the pen pushers at the hospital worry about after they stabilize the victim, so there was zero reason for anyone to be worried about the poor guy's wallet.
Unless you wanted to take the cash and credit cards with you, of course.
James
Posted by James R. Rummel | February 8, 2008 5:42 PM
Posted on February 8, 2008 17:42
(sorry - I meant to type "shouldn't" not "should" for the insurance card.)
Okay. I get it. That's... I don't have words for that kind of inhumanity.
I would have punched him.
Posted by bookmoth | February 8, 2008 6:35 PM
Posted on February 8, 2008 18:35
You should have shot the guy that stopped and suggested you rob the injured driver.
I'm kidding, well half so.
For the EMT that took the ITLS course. If you took my course, you'd have failed. That's a classic rapid extrication scenario, right down to the baby seat.
You took the course and learned enough to pass, but you clearly didn't understand the concepts.
It might be correct for bystanders to leave a compromised airway uncorrected, but someone who is trained should know better.
Feel free to email me at the above address if you care to correct me.
Posted by Gary | February 10, 2008 5:00 PM
Posted on February 10, 2008 17:00
It might be correct for bystanders to leave a compromised airway uncorrected, but someone who is trained should know better.
What compromised airway?
He was breathing alright when I arrived. I was with him until the fire dept arrived and I cleared out of the way, and he kept breathing the whole time.
Is there something I wrote that gave you the impression that he was having trouble getting air? If so, I can't spot it.
James
Posted by James R. Rummel | February 11, 2008 3:18 AM
Posted on February 11, 2008 03:18
I'm going to have to get a bit inside baseball here James, which might put some of your readers to sleep.
I did work on the basis of a couple of assumptions based on what you said and my 30 or so years of experience in EMS.
If the patient was indeed unconscious and nothing was done to open his airway, than pretty much by definition he had a compromised airway. The fact that you noticed no blood flowing from wounds that should have had noticeable bleeding tells me that his heart had probably stopped. Or he had bled out internally from a serious injury, such as an Aortic tear.
You say that he was breathing normally, so how did you determine that?
I don't want to belittle your efforts, which were heroic in light of the circumstances.
As a bystander you did the right things given that you have no medical training. At least I'm assuming you don't.
I was more pointing out that some of Mike's comments were inaccurate.
Feel free to delete this reply if it's way too boring, which it might well be.
BTW, I really enjoy your blog and your posts on self defense.
Thanks,
Posted by Gary | February 11, 2008 6:47 PM
Posted on February 11, 2008 18:47
You say that he was breathing normally, so how did you determine that?
You have a point that there was no way I could tell that he was breathing normally, but he was most assuredly breathing. I put my hand down by his face to make sure that the airbag wasn't choking him, and I could feel his breath on my hand.
I don't want to belittle your efforts, which were heroic in light of the circumstances.
Actually, Chris was the heroic one. I just followed his lead in this situation.
As a bystander you did the right things given that you have no medical training. At least I'm assuming you don't.
Nothing but the basic Red Cross stuff, like CPR and how to help a drowning victim.
James
Posted by James R. Rummel | February 11, 2008 7:18 PM
Posted on February 11, 2008 19:18
It seems your title "Beyond Help" refers to the poor driver, and the would-be thief.
Posted by workinwifdakids | February 15, 2008 11:58 PM
Posted on February 15, 2008 23:58
In response to one comment, it may not have been a suicide. I remember seeing a car in my rear view mirror in San Jose, Ca. which took an extreme right turn while the wheels were still pointed ahead. That car turned far more quickly than was possible by steering. It was like the right front tire just totally stopped and the car pivoted around it. She hit a phone pole and I couldn't move her from the car because her leg was impaled by a piece of car body. Not knowing how much damage moving her would cause, maybe cause her to bleed out if I tore he femoral artery moving her, all I could do was try to comfort her while we waited for an ambulance. No cell phones in those days, had to send someone to a phone.
Anyway, this poor guy may have suffered some mechanical malfunction similar. It can happen and may look like suicide when it wasn't.
Posted by straightarrow | February 16, 2008 1:12 AM
Posted on February 16, 2008 01:12