Why does so much bad stuff seem to happen to you Vash? You seem like a really nice guy who is best avoided by those of us interested in self preservation. :)

Cliff, if something like that doesn't effect you, there is something wrong.

Ive been dealing with MVA's and fire related fatalities for 22 yrs. Ive seen the worst possible, people crushed, torn apart, decapitated, burnt to death( and still alive). In a way Ive become hardened and immune to most of it. But every once in a while, you get one that snaps you back to reality.

Cliff you are so much the man. Listen to what Paul sez, you must come first. Gotta take care of your head.

Vinny, you're are among a special breed...

Was wondering the same thing..... I guess I could see how it might stop you from breathing if it was on your chest, but I cant envision how it could mangle you in this situation.

the images and thoughts will eventually fade with time

back in april 2001, i was driving down ocean parkway in brooklyn when i witnessed the aftermath of a horrible crash involving a kid who was driving his friend's father's 2000 porsche carrera. he hit and killed a 10 year old and 15 year old (sisters) and severely injured their mother...the father witnessed it all while they were standing in the median waiting to cross the street

ive seen a lot of awful stuff but i couldnt shake my sadness for a good long time after that. seeing the dad looking at his two dead daughters was very upsetting to me and haunted my dreams for a long time

If a limb got caught up in the under carriage some how, it might cause some kind of tearing injury as it rolled over her. But I've seen a few crushing victims without any visible external injuries.

Damn Vash, don't let it overtake. It's good to be a little disturbed, just don't let it interfere with your life. I've seen a few people die, the one that bothered me the most by far was the complete stranger with the sucking chest/gunshot wound that I stumbled upon in a parking lot. The others weren't pleasant or anything, but weren't a complete shock given the circumstances. That one really screwed with me for a while.

thanks for the good ideas.

i am feeling much better. oddly enough, talking to my mom was very theraputic.

as far as how did it happen? i dunno. the first lady on the scene saw it happen. the end of it anyways. the old lady was trying to stop hold the car back on her driveway. i have seen this lady. she walks slow, and drags an oxygen bottle. (i think this is the same lady) how she got behind the car is a mystery to me. the witness told me she screamed to the lady to "let it go!! get away!" anyways, when the car built up speed on her driveway, she went under. i got there just as the car was coming to a standstill..first lady was pushing the car and screaming for help. at this point i thought it was just a runaway car problem. i ran for the car, and saw what i thought was a little kid underneath..i dove in to shut car off..(it wasnt running) and yanked on the handbrake..that is when i sprinted to the back to look underneath. is the the car super low? no.. why did i think it was a little kid? the body was folded. it was horrific. i focused on her head and ignored the rest of her body.

emergency workers/responders are SAINTS! they suck it up and just dive in. the cops got there so fast. they were running and putting on rubber gloves on the run..the look on their faces said it all..this was bad!

the whole time, i didnt know what to do. i didnt have a floorjack, or did i know if i could even safely use one if i did. all i did was check on the lady, and then i spent my energy moving looky-loos car out of the way. i could hear the sirens and it sounded like they were bringing everyone. i then ran to the intersection to direct the emergency workers in the right direction. once the cops got there i left. my best move was simply to get away and leave them room to work.

the third lady to show up dove under the car to give the lady support..it was amazing. she was a rock.

i learned that life is fragile. it was crazy. i went back to the scene to tell them that i was the one to pull the handbrake. i didnt see much. i had tunnel vision bigtime.

Now that you are feeling a it better I'll tell this story, which I may have posted efore.

I was on my way down to Pensacola to start flight school. 1983. I was past Montgomery, Ala on a long stretch of interstate. I was driving a small U-Haul truck with the stuff my parents had given me to get started.

I'm doing maybe 60, in the right lane when an old van passes me at warp speed: ladders on the roof, spray painted black, zooming. He gets about 1/4 miles in front of me and starts to wobble, shimmy just a tad and then it's the Daytona 500: He is sideways and rolling, four revolutions, then tumbles end over end into the grass on the right side of the freeway ending up on the side, passenger door to the sky.

There is crap and tools spread over oth lanes for 200 yards...a plumbers Antique Roadshow.

It is 2pm and there are no other cars either direction.

I stop the U-Haul about 50 feet behind the van and get ready, again, to see some things I really don't want to. I am completely convinced, after the implosion I just witnessed, that the occupants of the van are either death or mangled.

I'm opening my door when a head pops up through the passenger window.

"My tools, my tools! Help me get my tools!"

He is completely hammered, god's own drunk. And he is, as far as I can tell unharmed.

I get there and ask if anyone is with him. No.

I am so pissed off it is difficult to describe. When help arrives, I get in the U-Haul and go.

Another thing to remember Vash is that anxiety can pop up months later due to this incident. I've seen it happen with 2 friends, 1 walking down a street 6 months later and ended up hiding in someone's garage, crying hysterically in the fetal position. He had been carjacked and shot at, thought he was fine until this happened. You might want to talk with someone just to be on the safe side.

Congratulations and thanks for stepping up and acting/ thinking quickly. It seems in this day and age 50% of people would whip out their cellphone and start taking pics/ video.

Here's mine.

Feb. 15th 2004. My parents were visiting us in Tucson, we were at their hotel. About 11:45pm we went to leave. I was parked in a prime spot right next to the hotel entrance.

My old RX-7 was a gnarly beat down car, and it was 50/50 whether it would start when cold. We got in to leave right as a full sized dodge truck pulled into the lot. He wanted my spot, and was going to wait. Well, my car did start, so I pulled out and went around the corner of the lot, where I stopped to put the convertible top up. He pulled into the same spot I just left, which had a pretty good slope to it.
As I'm putting the top up I hear a sound like a cat dying. That was the mans wife screaming. We ran over there and found him in the parking lot. As he got out of the truck, the parking brake wasn't fully set. The truck rolled back, and the front driver's wheel grabbed his leg and took him down. Struck his belly, then up his chest, partially breaking his neck, and partially crushing his skull. That's how I found him. The damage done was incomprehensible, I never knew that the body could have that much trauma from being run over. I also never knew how long someone could breath through their eye socket with that much trauma. Surprised also at just how much blood is in a person, and how big of a pool it makes.

He bled out over the next few minutes. He had expired by the time EMTs arrived.

I spent months beating myself up, because I knew that if my car had not started, he would have parked somewhere else and survived. If i had sat there and put the top up where it was, same thing. If I had left the hotel 10 seconds later, he'd be alive. It took a huge amount of counseling to get my past the point of blaming myself for his death.

I was pissed and screaming at the paramedics when they arrived and slowly sauntered over to the scene. As far as I was concerned, there was exactly one person on the planet at that moment, and they should have freaking ran over to him. They of course knew that there was no use.

I was pissed at all of the people on the road as I drove away later. They all were just going somewhere, completely oblivious to the drama that had just unfolded. It put me in fits that they didn't know or care.

I was pissed at him for putting me into that situation. Why did he need THAT spot? Why did he not set the brake properly? Why is it that HIS decisions put a nightmare in MY head?

I was also pissed at myself, because I lost all situational awareness and control. It wasn't until the next morning that I realized that my arms were still covered in dry blood. I drove the whole way home (top down, never did get it put up) with blood covering my clothes and arms. Didn't know.



Dude was in town with his wife from Washington state for the Gem Show. They had just gone out to dinner. he had a wad of $20 in his pocket (well, scattered around the parking lot...) because they were at the casino earlier. His wife had to go back home alone.

Man I'm sorry you had to witness that. When I was 8 are elementary school at the time had these big cement drainage pipes as are jungle gym. They replaced the cement pipes with tires from the local Dot. Anyways they placed one of these huge pipes down in a gully and at lunch we would roll the pipe up the hill jump in it and get flipped around.. well my best friend John at the time decided to get on top of this thing and tripped and fell crushing him instantly. I still have that image to this day and I'm 51. Still remember his addidas sneakers. He had the black with white stripes and I had the white with black stripes. Ugggg man that was a horrible day. Its good to talk about stuff and also to live each day to its fulliest.

One of the reasons that made being a cop intolerable....