Picture This
10 am, my brother-in-law tells me to meet up with him to play ball
Gives me the directions
Roughly
Because I’m behind,
I tell him I’ll meet him up there when he calls back 20 minutes later
My brother and I arrive at the hot court, and watch as game point is decided
All six dudes, my brother-in-law included, are tired
It’s hot
And it’s only getting hotter
We finally get a game going
Fast forward
We win the game
Although it’s my first game, I’m out of shape
Hot and tired
I shoot the breeze with my brother-in-law and the other guys on the court
I call it a day,
Thinking my main concern is not over doing it just because my ego says I can still play
Picture my brother and me heading back to me crib
We just finished playing a three on three game in the blistering heat
Thirsty
Trying to keep cool in an automobile with no AC
Imagine us stopping past my fathers house, talking about Final Destination 1 & 2 on the way
Dad is not home
We renew our quest to my place
We are heading towards the home stretch when
BANG
Four door dodge car runs red light and collides with Xterra SUV
Car spins around and comes to a rest in a ditch
I ask if there is an accident because I don’t see the SUV
The SUV, according to eyewitnesses
Goes air born
Flips a couple of times and come to a rest on it’s side
“Oh shit, that car is smoking”
Imagine me franticly waiting for the light to turn green so I can safely cross the intersection
I place my truck in park and tell my brother to wait there.
Driver of car is frantic, exclaiming, “How could I have done this?”
He is being consoled by younger female passenger
I try to ascertain whether or not he is injured as I place the 911 call
The first call drops before I get an answer
I call back
Operator of 911 call picks up and asks me questions
Where, what color are the cars…
Another young lady is on a 911 call just feet from the young lady trapped in her SUV
Four black men are trying to calm her are saying to each other that she needs to get out of the truck
I ask them not to move her
They assure me they aren’t trying to, but she is bleeding badly
I get closer
See blood spatter on drivers side door as she struggles to get out
I don’t see that her arm is severed
Bone and ligaments exposed
Artery opened had been spraying her in the face with blood
Puddles of blood already saturating the ground beneath my feet unnoticed, pointed out later
One of the black men had already wisely created a tourniquet out of his shirt
She is trapped, and bleeding to death
EMU’s are on the way
Tracy, the young lady who made the other 911 call, asks if there is any family she should contact
The young lady conveys the number of her husband
I learn later that they are new to the area, and she is 26 or 27 years old
Traci passes information to the husband
Cars are starting to build up both ways
We need to get them out of the way to increase her chances of survival
For now,
The six or so black males who are there to help, including myself, are the police
Those not trying to restrain or directly aid her immediately become traffic police
Begin to turn cars away from the accident scene to allow an easy approach for Emergency personnel
Having to be verbally abused by a passenger of a car who could care less about the accident because she just needed to get down the road
Imagine at some point that I finally get to the driver of the car to ask his condition
He assures me he’s 100% okay, just that he has some tension in his temple
I tell him that he needs to tell EMT’s that once they arrive, because he doesn’t know how serious that may be
Police arrive first
Not too long after, ambulatory units arrive for two different directions
Imagine a helicopter landing in a nearby field not long after police and ambulatory units arrive
Lone camera man
Being told to move back
Fire hoses
Cutting the back of the truck off to pull her out through the back
One fireman goes in
Screams of agony
Carried into an ambulance
Trying to find which hospital she’ll be going to tell her husband
I find her pocket book 15- 20 feet from her vehicle
Tracy and I gather what we can an hand it to an EMT
Speculation
How her arm got so damaged
Whether or not she’ll be able to keep it
Perspective
Complete strangers took control of an emergency situation and created order
Called emergency vehicles within minutes of the incident and gave the pertinent info
Contacted family
10 years ago, cell phones on hand would have been doubtful
Spoke to EMT’s and Police to let them know the situation
A place for the helicopter to land was a mere 15 yards away, if that
Three of the dudes that helped big time were actually just going to find ice for drinks, as one of them was going to be renewing his vows later that day
And I could have played another game of basketball