just saw coworker hit by car....
 

I'm still upset about this.
today, as I was leaving work, I was in the crosswalk with a coworker. She works in a different department, I don't know her well enough to know her last name, but we always joked around in the elevator, very nice, very pleasant woman.
I was halfway across, she was only 10 ft. from the curb (if she had only been 5 seconds faster!)
It all felt like slow motion, and happened less than five feet in front of me. I saw the car traveling too fast, and in the split second before he hit her, I saw his face and he was NOT looking in her direction. He was turning left into the crosswalk. I had to time to get out "watch..." before he struck her. She got thrown onto the roof of the car and then flung, pinwheeling about 20 feet down the road. Since he never saw her, he never put on the brakes, and I thought it was going to be a hit and run. I ran to where she was laying and tried to get the license plate number but the car pulled over.
I was kneeling down next to her, and tried to keep her talking. unbelievably, I had the presence of mind to bark out orders to other people "you--call 911, you-- block traffic, etc.". I tried to call 911 on my own cellphone but couldn't get through for some reason. She asked me to call her husband and gave me his number, but I couldn't get through.
She didn't move, and couldn't feel her legs and a pool of blood was collecting underneath her head. I just kept her talking.
It seemed forever to get the ambulance there. She kept telling me "don't leave me", like I would do that!
The whole time the driver and his buddies just stood there, although I guess I should be glad they didn't drive off.
Finally, the ambulance gets there and nobody can find her purse right away. They put a neck brace on her, but even though she cant feel her legs, she can move her toes. Finally, just as she's being loaded into the ambulance I reach her husband and tell him his wife has been hit and to meet her at the hospital.
I hang around to talk to the police and I'm waiting to give my statement. While I'm waiting, the older brother of the driver shows up and tries to harrass me to tell him what I saw. I tell him: I will tell the police what I saw, that's it.
Finally, I get to talk to the policeman and tell him what happened. The driver had lied and said the woman jumped out in front of his car. He thought she had just left the curb and was just entering the crosswalk instead of just getting ready to exit the crosswalk.
I told the policeman I could see the guys face and he wasn't looking.
While I was waiting to talk to the policmen, the older brother was saying "the cop said he had a suspended license, but that's bs because I paid his insurance myself" lunatics.
Since I and the coworker work at the newspaper and this happened right outside the paper, a reporter (who I know) grabs me and asked what happened so I give her the rundown.
When they put her on the stretcher her head was covered in blood. I never did find her glasses...god knows where they ended up.

I know this wasn't my fault but I keep replaying it my mind thinking if I'd just thought more quickly and hollered louder or tried to grab her or I don't know what, but it all happened SO FAST. I keep seeing her, someone I know and who I was just chatting with, flying off the hood and slamming to the pavement. I still hear her pleading "don't leave me!"

I can't calm down.

I hope she is ok, but I guess I won't find out til monday. This well and truly sucks.

Hey people, PLEASE pay attention, both as drivers and pedestrians in crosswalks!

Aw man, lerk, that's awful! Please keep us posted on her condition.

Good news!
her condition is listed as fair.
I'm going to try to stop by the hospital later today.

Re: just saw coworker hit by car....
 

You did everything that you could and stayed calm and took control of the situation. Nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to feel guilty about.

You did 100 percent.
 

You did 100 percent. Monday Morning Quarter backing is not fair to you or anyone else that does the *best* possible job....

Otherwise everyone could win lotto, prevent war, and solve world peace. All things are possible with hind site (knowing the future). Not a sense any real human has.

**Meanwhile your precence and presence of mind, saved a life, minimzed truama physical and emotional to the victim and helped ensure that there would be some measure of legal justice. Not bad, by any stretch of the imagintiaton.

-----------
P.S. I was mowed down by a car, as a child. The Driver did not stop. Only passers by secured, the kind of help you obtained. The nut job whoever it was, was never caught.

Re: You did 100 percent.
 

Good thing you were there, "lerk," not just for her sake, but to bust those hoods. Who knows how many other lives were saved because of your heads up attentiveness.

I'd imagine you're in a mild state of shock yourself from the incident. That's understandable. Hang in there, buddy!

Re: just saw coworker hit by car....
 

You should be proud to have been able to do that. So many people panic in a situation like this. Being calm and coordinating in a crisis saves lives.

That's proof you did everything 120%.

buddy...you are my hero! :)

EVEN BETTER NEWS!!!
was calling the hospital to make sure it was ok to come by and visit, and they'd released her! I called her on the number still on my cell phone, and she's amazingly ok, considering.
She's got 8 staples in her head, she's all bruised and banged up, and said "I feel like I got hit by a freight train". I said" well, you sort did."
She was thanking me left and right which made me feel a little self-conscious, I just told her I was just glad she was home and relatively ok.
Someone had the presence of mind (not me) to put her glasses in her purse, but her car keys are missing. She was holding them in her hands...so god knows where they ended up. There were parked cars on either side of the intersection, so they might have flung under there, but its too late now I'm sure to find them.
I apologized that I didn't keep track of her keys and she goes, "you have NOTHING to apologize for.".
Anyways, she remembers me saying "Lookout!" right before she got hit, so at least she DID hear me, there just wasn't time to react. She asked why the driver didn't stop after he hit her, because his proceeding on is what threw her off the roof and did the real damage. I told her the guy wasn't looking, which she didn't know that. She said: "Did I damage his car?" and I said" I don't know, I hope you did". She said "I hope I totaled it, the jerk." Then we laughed and then she said "Ow, it hurts to laugh".
As far as the driver, they called the police, who said all that happened is he was cited for failure to yield and driving under suspension. He was not arrested (!).

at any rate, this is nothing short of miraculous. Things looked much worse than they were at the time, whoever pointed out that head wounds bleed a lot was right. There were no broken bones, just split her head open (skin, not skull). Her not feeling her legs was probably a shock reaction.

*Lerkfish is ecstatic and very relieved*

Great news...! :)

Well done. There are times when you can walk away or act as you did; that is, with integrity. You did a good job and should be proud of yourself.

Hey, I'll drink to that. That's fantastic news.:)

Phew, glad to hear she's better than you thought. As far as the bonehead that hit her, too bad they couldn't charge him with more than they did...but you can bet his insurance company will reflect this incident via his rates.

I'm not a big fan of litigation but you can remind your friend (the victim) that she can (and probably should, since she's got loss of work, medical bills, etc.) pursue redress through the civil courts.

I hadn't had time to keep up and I just read this thread.

Thank God you were there to help and comfort her, thanks for sharing!

Jacques

One always wonders how he/she will react in times of crisis. Good show Lerk. I'm sorry you had to find out how you would react, but you done good.

I witnessed something similar, except that it wasn't an "accident." The woman was driven down on purpose. If you are still having wierd feelings, I suggest you talk with a grief councilor. One session will do wonders....it did for my wife and I after our experience.

You're a good man, John. Keep up the good stuff, and best wishes to your friend. :)

We're all relieved, Lerk. Glad to know that there are people like you about. Good job, and let your co-worker know that she's got a lot of people out here pulling for her.

Breen

lerk,

Can you give us an update on this story? How is the woman who was hit fairing? What is the disposition of the case against the driver?

oh, sorry.
the update is she is still recovering, at work though. She had some damage to a leg and a concussion and hairline skull fracture. she has headaches and is taking physical therapy.

Other than that, she's ok. She had put a nice note in my mailbox at work, but I didn't get it until 9 weeks later because of my recuperation from surgery.

Although a bit embarrassing, here is what the note said:

The driver got a 25 dollar fine. That's it.

You are a Hero
 

I am confused.....

You were out too for 9 weeks, For Surgery. I hope you are OK too.

Lerk,

Take it from someone certified in CPR, you did everything right. The very first thing you do in such an emergency is take charge. Choose someone, and order them to call 911. The next thing is to make sure the victim is not in harms way. You did all that flawlessly.

Here are other things you did right...

You did not give the brother the time of day, you gave your witness account to the police and let them hash it out. (they can tell when someone is trying to pin blame)

You kept her awake and gave her comfort where ever you could--you kept her calm.

You kept your head in the face of a rattling event.

As for the outcome, the driver may have gotten a $25 fine, but your friend's insurance company lawyer is going to come in and do a bit of expense recovery. Not to mention your friend's lawyer coming in to recoup through a little pain and suffering litigation. It ain't over for this irresponsible driver.

Re: You are a Hero
 

thanks, I had three neck vetebra fused: removal of two disks and insertion of cadaver donor bone, all secured with a metal plate and some screws.

I'm fine now, with a wonderful scar from the clavicle to the jaw line. A friend suggests I should either claim its from a razor fight in a bar or a dueling scar...heh.

thanks for saying so. I know at the time I didn't really think too much, I just reacted (or acted). It wasn't until afterwards that I realized how bizarre it was for me to do that: if you ever saw how disorganized my desk is, you'd be amazed.

heh.

Lerk how is your recovery going?
 

That is a pretty major "oil change" everything to do with backs/spine/neck is major.

And If you do not mind one asking what was the impetus for the surgery? I am sure you were in mind numbing pain before and after, but what caused the problem in the first place?

heh -- "major oil change" :)

Not sure if related, but 25 years ago in college I had a diving board accident, where I compressed my neck as it struck the board. For a time I wore a neck brace and had some pain, but the pain went away so I thought nothing of it. fast forward twenty five years, and about 9 months ago, I started having excruciating pain in my neck, with numbness and pain down both arms. I couldn't feel my thumb and forefinger of my left arm. The pain was so bad I literally was in tears when I tried to lay down to sleep and I couldn't sleep. I couldn't turn my head very far without lancing pain, and even though I was popping over the counter and prescription pain pills like candy, to no avail. I finally broke down and went in to the doctor. I thought I was getting bad arthritis. He xrayed my neck and came in and said "this is bad. You will end up needing surgery". He showed me the xray...between the C5, C6 and C7 vertebra there was no space. There should have been a disk in between but the xray showed them rubbing together.
Turns out the disks were extremely herniated: one disk to the right and interior to the spinal cord, and the other to the left and interior to the spinal cord. In addition, an interior bone spur was scraping and damaging the cord itself, and spinal fluid was leaking INTO the cord, which it shouldn't do. What the surgeon said was "you and I are walking down the street. We both fall. I get up. you don't. All it takes is one fall, one minor fender bender and you'll end up a paraplegic." well, that was a bit scary.
So I got the surgery, and since then, I go days without taking pain meds at all! my range of motion is almost complete, which is an improvement since pain kept me from moving much before surgery.

The diving board accident could have caused it, and it took 25 years to flare up, or it could have been something unrelated. The doctors wouldn't speculate except to say "its bad now, whatever the cause, and we have to fix it"

Wow, I'm sure that knowing all that put your experience with your co-worker in the crosswalk into a different perspective: had it been you the outcome could have be dramatically different.

Glad to hear you are all fixed up!

yes, my wife pointed out that had I been 10 seconds faster, I would have been hit instead and probably paralyzed or dead. Even though she wouldn't wish that my coworker got hit, it was better her than I (in my wife's view) of course, I'm sure the coworker might disagree :)

You have to be there to know how it feels...
 

As a cop, I've responded to incidents involving pedestrians which have been struck by vehicles. I've always handled them professionally, as trained, and they didn't bother me too much. A few years ago, I actually witnessed someone being struck by a car and flung about 30-40 feet. To put it mildly, it made me feel physically ill. If I wouldn't have been caught up in being a first responder (I was off-duty at the time), there's no doubt that I would have barfed (sorry). Nothing has ever made me feel the way I felt when I witnessed this and it's probably the only time that I ever felt truly traumatized (until September 11, 2001 came along).

I'm happy to hear that you (lerkfish) and the victim are both recovering. It sounds like you did everything that you could have done to help the victim and it's too bad that the law didn't provide a more severe dose of justice to the driver.

Cheers,
Rob J

a $25 fine.....
anybody here think a small email letter campeign to the local police/mayor is in order?
the guy was driving (or so it seems) with a suspended license (in NJ thats a jailable offense) AND hit someone AND there was a reliable witness.

maybe its that I just spent a weekend in DC with activist type people but I feel there is something that can be done here beyond us all telling lurk (correctly) that he did good.

Hey lurk, you work for a newspaper, any chance they can do a followup about how small a response the law has to such a situation?

just my two cents

also for the record:

WAY TO GO LURK!
keeping your wits and doing the right thing is tough and you did it, so I join the rest of the crowd in congrats.

knowmad
(edited for spelling and typing)

the executive editor of the paper wrote an editorial the next week on the incident and it was more a reminder about being careful (vs. careless) when driving. Apparently he could see the whole thing out his upper office window and was one of the people that called 911 (though they'd already received notice of the accident)
he made a special visit down to my cubicle to tell me I did a good job. (not often the upper brass comes to visit me...well, ok, they never do).

I told the coworker I'd be happy to testify at any civil trial, but never heard back yet on that.

This was in Canada, but I am sure it is the same in the US....

I once sat beside a judge on a flight and was asking him why the system let people off so easy. He was honestly under the impression that most of the public wanted the system to work that way :rolleyes:

While I can understand that if some dumb kid makes a mistake when he is 14 or so, that we don't hang him, I get upset when I see repeat offenders, or in this case someone fully aware of what he is doing get off lightly. I imagine this was truly was an accident, so I suppose he shouldn't hang either :), but I think everyone would agree that a $25 dollar fine is not sending the right message.

I would add a letter to some judicial body as well as to the others you mention.

Cheers,

Re: Re: You are a Hero
 

There was a small movie called The Big Fix with Richard Dreyfuss...

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0077233/

...and was not really all that great, but most of the funny bits are people asking him how he broke his arm (it was in a cast the entire movie) and his various replies were great and may give you some inspiration.

Am very glad that all went well in your surgery!!