Morning Wreck
Tuesday, December 12, 2006 |
So this
morning on my way to work I had the unfortunate experience of
witnessing a nasty accident. I figured I would blog on it because I was
just super bummed with the response from rescue units and the police in
general.
First I will rewind a bit. So I'm heading west on 208th in Kent. Just
as I pass the fire station I watch as a teenage boy comes whipping out
of the highschool parking lot and connects with a honda accord. Both
cars traveled a good distance together then obviously stopped, no the
other side of the road. So now both lanes westbound are blocked and the
accord is filling the inside lane on the eastbound lanes. One lane open.
I stop and get out to go see who's able to walk away. Fortunatly the
Teenager was able to get up and out of his vehicle, however the elderly
lady in the accord was in pretty extreme pain. I looked like she most
likely had a few broken ribs and most likely a bad compound fracture on
her right arm. The damage to her Accord was pretty bad and it was clear
she was injured so the best bet was to have her stay put until help
arrived. Another guy stopped with me and was helping talk to her and
talk to the other guy who was in shock.
About 5 minutes go by and I am thinking ... what gives I can see the
Fire station from where I am standing... and there is not one officer
here. We Called the minute it happened. Then I look up and see some
Stupid ASS drive right between the two wrecked cars, crushing glass,
over some bumper parts and through the smoke... But guess what... he
didn't have to wait in line. I was out-raged. Here were in an accident
and it is clear that there is not help on-site other than two guys. Not
one person asked if it was under control or if they could help. We
needed help.
So stepped back asked the other guy to keep talking to the lady to keep
her from passing out, and I started getting control of the traffic.
Another 3 mintues go by ... No police. No Help. Finally after I get
some cars cleared out of the area and back on thier way to work the
first Ambulance shows up. I make a clearing and they get in and get
right to work. There were only 4 guys and they all went straight to the
Honda so there was still a need for me and this other guy to help out.
So I kept directing traffic while the other guy did crowd control on
the sidewalk. A few minutes later a police car and second ambulance
show up. Then a few seconds later two more police cars. Well I figured
I was all good now. A police officer would come over and direct the
traffic for me. After all were talking 4 lanes down to 1 on an arterial
at 8am in the morning. Yea it was crazy. I was yelling, Jumping up and
down and screaming as people refused to drive because they wanted to
look at the accident. After a few moments when by I realized that the
two officers were standing by the sidewalk talking to each other about
some activity from another day. Dude I was pissed. I don't care if you
deal with this stuff 24/7. This is an emergency and you have to act
like it. I politely asked one of the police officers to come over and
relieve me, because the second I was going to walk away there would be
another accident because I was alternating traffic through one lane.
This officer gets all upset with me and then proceeds to explain that I
am a witness to an accident not an emercency responder.
I looked at the Guy ... and Very very Politely said ... You are not
just incorrect, you are a poor example of Police Response and Service.
Of all people you should recognize that I was the First Responder of
any type on this scene. My un-qualifications perhaps should be a signal
not to place the responsibility of traffic safety on my hands and
rather on your hands. Then he looked at me and asked me to go sit on
the curb and wait for the other of
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Written by James
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