Just had a bad experience...

[NoSoldat4u]

Well I'm a little shaken up right now. Here's the story. It happened about an hour ago.

I was driving home from school, roads soaked from the rain, and I was in the right lane of a 4 lane road when the 3 cars in front of me started to slow to a stop. I was just about to go around them into the left lane when I saw the person in the car in front of me get out and rush up ahead.

I figured something was wrong now, and indeed someone came running back yelling "CALL 911!" I immediately put on my hazards and pulled out my phone.

I dialed as I exited my truck and as I walked around the car in front of me I saw what the situation was. A body was lying face down on the ground in the road. I got a tight stomach as I walked closer and began talking to the 911 operator. There were only 3 other people around, including the driver that hit the person.

The driver was getting pretty emotional and the other two, a young girl about my age (21) and a middle aged lady were both really shocked and not around the body. I took it upon myself to check the person for signs of life as I relayed the information back to 911.

Now I have never really seen a dead person up close, let alone physically deal with one. I pushed aside my "scared" feelings as best I could and just did what was necessary. I rolled the person over onto their back and at this point I realized it was a lady and most likely homeless. She was bleeding from the mouth and nose. I tried to detect a pulse with my two fingers on her neck but couldn't feel anything, just warmth.

By now the middle aged lady was helping, she tried to listen for breathing but also found none. I couldn't perform mouth to mouth due to the blood, and frankly I don't know if I would have been able to. The look on the face was just so gruesome I almost couldn't handle it. Her eyes were partly open and looked completely black. It was just horrible.

The paramedic finally arrived and it didn't take long for them to determine she was gone.

I tried talking with the driver and he said he had hit the person at about 40mph. He said he was just cruising down the road and all of a sudden he just sees a face and a hand. He was very shook up but managed to thank me for helping. I left after speaking with an officer about what I saw.

I hope I did everything I could. I can understand why people get frozen when things like this happen, but somehow I was able to do what was necessary.

Has anyone else had experiences with death like this? How did you handle it?


Cliffs: - Driving home, cars slowed to stop in front of me. Someone yelled to call 911. As I did, I got out and saw that a homeless lady had been hit. I tried to feel for a pulse but there was none. Paramedic came and confirmed she was dead. Driver said he hit her going 40mph. I'm still a little shaken up.

[Black Cat]

i was walking to the pharmacy once and i heard some kind of bang but didnt think much of it, then when i got there i saw a police officer and a guy lying on the ground with blood and squirming. the story was that it was an attempted robbery and the cop shot him. never found out if the guy died or not. i wasn't traumatized though

[CrossboneGundam]

I've seen a medical cadaver up close, but it was so old that it looked like jerky by that point.

[DavenIII]

not gonna lie the whole post I was waiting for Fresh Prince of Bel-Air....But anyhow.

I've seen some terrible accidents on the Highways around here, some that were fatal, but I've never seen a dead guy close up.

[Arnold]

NoSoldat4u: Glad to see you did the right thing, dude.

I had a pretty scary experience myself almost exactly a year ago. My friends and I decided to donate some groceries to a food pantry, and we were walking up the steps with our bags when we noticed this guy all disheveled and hunched over and holding onto the railing near the top of the staircase. As I was walking up, he lost his grip and took a very nasty tumble down the steps, nearly taking me with him. Now this is a fairly long flight of stairs, and he landed pretty hard, so it looked really bad. Told everyone in the pantry what happened, called 911 and filled them in on where we are and what just took place, and stayed around until the ambulance showed up.

Called the place a couple of days later to check in, and the guy was badly injured but survived, thank god. For a while I thought I might have witnessed a person actually die.

[NoSoldat4u]

not gonna lie the whole post I was waiting for Fresh Prince of Bel-Air....But anyhow.

Sorry to disappoint. :P

NoSoldat4u: Glad to see you did the right thing, dude.

I had a pretty scary experience myself almost exactly a year ago. My friends and I decided to donate some groceries to a food pantry, and we were walking up the steps with our bags when we noticed this guy all disheveled and hunched over and holding onto the railing near the top of the staircase. As I was walking up, he lost his grip and took a very nasty tumble down the steps, nearly taking me with him. Now this is a fairly long flight of stairs, and he landed pretty hard, so it looked really bad. Told everyone in the pantry what happened, called 911 and filled them in on where we are and what just took place, and stayed around until the ambulance showed up.

Called the place a couple of days later to check in, and the guy was badly injured but survived, thank god. For a while I thought I might have witnessed a person actually die.

Wow, glad to hear that he survived at least. I'm sure it would be a lot worse actually seeing someone being killed then just seeing them after the fact. I'm very thankful I did not see the lady get hit with my own eyes. That's why I feel bad for the driver, he will never be able to get that moment out of his head.

[333jeffery]

Atleast you tried to help. Where I live, a teen girl hit and killed a homeless woman with her car. Then fled the scene. She was caught eventually, but just got probation for the crime. I can't imagine how her life will turn-out....

[Aragami]

You did good. You were doing your best when you weren't sentimental. You performed that's good.

Do you think it was a hobo suicide? That's a way to kill yourself, throwing yourself before oncoming traffic.

[Siendra]

You did good. You were doing your best when you weren't sentimental. You performed that's good.

Do you think it was a hobo suicide? That's a way to kill yourself, throwing yourself before oncoming traffic.

That's a really bad way to kill yourself. Far too random.

Anyway, you did well. You stayed calm and tried to render what assistance you could. And had the woman not been dead by the time you got to her, your giving the operator and therefore the EMT's information before they arrived on scene very well could have saved her life. Be proud of the actions you took.

And yes. A couple years ago my father and I were driving west to see some family and came upon an accident involving a sixteen wheeler, a minivan, and some sports car. First people there and it was pretty bad. My father and I fortunately have rather extensive first aid training, so we were able to get down to helping people, but it was just such a mess. We helped the emergency crew that showed about about fifteen minutes later pull a young girl out of the minivan over the body of older brother. That part left me a little shaken up for a couple weeks actually. Like I said before though (And this advice was given to me by one of the emergency responders who called to check on us), be proud of the actions you took regardless of the outcome you never had any control over. You took from yourself and gave to another unconditionally because they needed you.

[The Million Dollar Prons]

Kill homeless person, post thread.

- Prons

[superplough]

What are you Advice Prons now?

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/superplough/AnimeNation%20Banners/adviceprons.jpg

[waltsoph3]

First off bless your heart. I'm truly sorry to hear about your situation. :(
You did all that you could do.

[NoSoldat4u]

Do you think it was a hobo suicide? That's a way to kill yourself, throwing yourself before oncoming traffic.

I don't know, but I doubt it only because that is a really unreliable way of ending your life. If the driver had noticed a few seconds sooner that she was there he would have braked and possibly just seriously injured her. Then of course she would be worse off than ever.


That's a really bad way to kill yourself. Far too random.

Anyway, you did well. You stayed calm and tried to render what assistance you could. And had the woman not been dead by the time you got to her, your giving the operator and therefore the EMT's information before they arrived on scene very well could have saved her life. Be proud of the actions you took.

And yes. A couple years ago my father and I were driving west to see some family and came upon an accident involving a sixteen wheeler, a minivan, and some sports car. First people there and it was pretty bad. My father and I fortunately have rather extensive first aid training, so we were able to get down to helping people, but it was just such a mess. We helped the emergency crew that showed about about fifteen minutes later pull a young girl out of the minivan over the body of older brother. That part left me a little shaken up for a couple weeks actually. Like I said before though (And this advice was given to me by one of the emergency responders who called to check on us), be proud of the actions you took regardless of the outcome you never had any control over. You took from yourself and gave to another unconditionally because they needed you.

Thank you for the support. That is a really sad story and I hope I never have to deal with a mess like that. I do believe that these experiences, however gruesome and sad they are, can make you a stronger person. It's kind of a slap of reality and it makes you appreciate your life that much more.

I drove by there today, since it's the road I take to get home, and I felt too uncomfortable to drive in the lane that her body ended up in. I think I'll get over it sooner or later though.

Thanks for the support guys.

[willag]

Thank you for the support. That is a really sad story and I hope I never have to deal with a mess like that. I do believe that these experiences, however gruesome and sad they are, can make you a stronger person. It's kind of a slap of reality and it makes you appreciate your life that much more.

I drove by there today, since it's the road I take to get home, and I felt too uncomfortable to drive in the lane that her body ended up in. I think I'll get over it sooner or later though.

Thanks for the support guys.


I agree with everyone else. You did the right thing and I commend you for keeping your head and nerves together in such a situation.

While I personally haven't been in such a horrible situation (I had to deal with someone having a seizure during a lifeguard shift, but she ended up okay), I had a roommate who went through a similar situation. She was driving to U.P. Michigan during the winter holidays (and by this time close to 2 feet of snow was covering the ground). A guy in front of her tried to pass the car in front of him, lost control of the car, hit the other car, and then flipped into a snow bank. Having first aid experience, she ran to his car just in time to hold his hand while he apologized and then died. She then attended to the lady and her baby in the other car who luckily only suffered minimal injuries. She told me that she reacted mechanically throughout the whole situation, and it wasn't until her father picked her up and took her home that she finally broke down.

It's hard to imagine such tragedies, but you do what you can. And I feel you did the best you could. And, like you said, it will get better.