sad news and some people really piss me off

Damn straight, Bubba. Facebook, twitter etc is evil and a scourge. Fuck all that shit. Get real with the real world (not the MTV version, which started all this shit).

 

It's tough being a good samaritan. These days, if you look at a person wrong, you get sued.

 

Thank you for trying to help. Hope venting here makes you decompress a bit. See if the troopers have a CISM program to help you get over any remaining stress.

Everyone else - get trained and have emergency gear in your rigs.

A lot of people don't help because they don't know how.

 

Good advice.

 

House behind me was burning and the neighbors were running around like headless chickens and unable to process rational thought while I, at 16, had a level head and acted accordingly to prevent the other houses and dry oak trees from catching fire and taking down half the neighborhood.

They thought I didn't care because I wasn't acting like a lunatic, I thought they were helpless because lunacy and no response was all they could react with.

So.. taught me a lesson about how humans handle the same situation, and neither of us were wrong, just different. The situation was no less dramatic regardless of said differences.

Do what you think you should. Do what action draws you to do. Do it for yourself not for recognition.

What everybody else does isn't a concern or a problem if you act for yourself.

 

People respond differently to traumatic situations for uncountable reasons. Maybe they are afraid. Maybe they don't know how. Maybe they think calling 911 from the safety of their car is enough. I've witnessed this a few times in my life, most often in active hostility toward someone where witnesses will not act to directly intervene. I let that affect my actions exactly zero percent. Do what you think is right and don't worry about others.

 

I have been to two multifatality car accidents where I was there right away. The first time a RN was thankfully the very first person on scene and she took charge like a drill sargent. In that case she and I were the only ones to do anything useful at all. The second time I was ob my own initially and again nobody else was of any use. Most couldn't, or wouldn't, even take instructions. Some were just assholes but most just weren't mentally prepared to do anything but shut down. Two other times have been on nonfatal accidents that were serious and victims needed help, traffic control, and interface with first responders. Again, I was surrounded by zeros. Doing nothing or were completely counterproductive. All four of those incidents were before camera phones, Facebook, and YouTube were popular. People's brains simply fall out of their asses in those kind of situations. Just this week an elderly man was having trouble in a busy parking lot. Several people were watching with concerned looks but I was the only one to head in his direction. Just before I got to him he fell. After that more than half a dozen people showed up but only one of them was of any use. And thank gawd she was there. She recognized he was having a neurological problem before I did and called for EMS. Everyone else, other than her daughter and I, just stood around looking concerned. Just the way it is.

Like you I am not a professional so there is only so much I can do. it's enough to keep a clear head and keep the morons from doing damage and get the people that are mentally prepared to do something productive.

 

Sorry that you had to witness such tragedy, god knows I have seen more than I care to count. Something that I have come to realize is that unfortunately what Virgil told Dante, is true not just for Dante but for a lot of people. How many times haven't you turn on the news and seen mostly death and destruction? Why because a lot of people want to see that, they don't want to act based on what they see, they just want to sit there and watch as if death was a show and ratings go up because of it. Here is the excerpt from Dante's Divine Comedy. I would add the illustration, but I don't think it's appropriate given what you recently seen. "The multitude of people, and the many wounds, had made my eyes so tear-filled, that they longed to stop and weep, but Virgil said to me: ‘Why are you still gazing? Why does your sight still rest, down there, on the sad, mutilated shadows? You did not do so at the other chasms. Think, if you wish to number them, that the valley circles twenty-two miles, and the moon is already underneath our feet. The time is short now, that is given us, and there are other things to view, than those you see."

 

Next time OP, it won't surprise you at all. I think most of the "yeah, no shit sherlock, people are idiots" comments are from people who have already had their enlightening moment. You're now one of the jaded. Welcome. A word of advice: Get over the uselessness of the bystanders. Focus on how you helped the survivors and be thankful you were able to be there, and help people who needed you.

To sum up this thread: Some people can handle stressful situations, and remain clear-headed while they react admirably. These are the same people who, a century ago, would have lived through a winter without dying. Kudos. Our grandparents' generation would be proud. They called it common-sense. Some people freeze up and do nothing because they're either useless, dense, scared, chemically numb, sadistic, etc. Some people overreact and cause more damage for their hysteria. This has always been true.

However, and I'm sure this is obvious to everyone, as our society has become so much more ... ummm.... whiney and useless and entitled and clueless and we constantly see tragedy that is not real (tv, movies, games, etc), or is real but doesn't seem to have any impact on them (seeing suffering and violence in the news).... it seems that there are less and less people who can handle a sudden real-world scary incident with any sort of common sense. Too many people just remain as spectators in the face of violence, tragedy, etc, because that's what they're used to in their little electronic device and internet fuelled world. We see shit like that every day on our LCD screens, so maybe they had to frame up the scene in their phones to make it more familiar and comfortable. People are idiots.

 

I HAVE NEWS

the officer called me tonight rather surprised at the time he called. it was 9:45 and i talked to him for about 30 minutes. he was filling me in on all the details. he repeatedly thanked me for helping. saying we need more good sumaritans. i told him it was simply a matter of doing the right thing. we both were in agreement that people need to drop cell phones and start helping more.

the truck driver survived. nobody saw him exit the truck before it burst into flames so we all assumed he was unconscious in the truck. but he managed to get out before the fire engulfed the entire truck. little news on the truck driver that makes me sad. he is a vet. he spent some time in the military and he did his best to not be put in a position where he had to kill anyone. something he couldnt do. then he tells the officer "now look what ive done" he is a father and a grandfather. i dont know what kind of jail time comes, but he is being charged with vehicular manslaughter at this point. but he has accepted full responsibility for this accident. here is how the accident happened. 287 changes in the number of lanes. truck driver was in a 2 lane seperated road with 2 lanes going in the opposite direction, several yards away. the lanes reduce to 1 lane each direction and (obviously) no center divide. he was unfortunately a little tired and didnt realize that at that time. thats when he went head on with the minivan. he was travelling downhill with a slight right hand turn. luckily the driver had some reaction. he swerved last second which ultimately saved the boys lives. if he didnt do that, he would have drove right over the minivan crushing everyone inside. its not an excuse nor a way to justify anything, but at least he did do something when he realized what was happening. the officer revisited the scene today and he definitely could understand the confusion the truck driver had, thinking he was still on a 2 lane divided highway. also remember this was late night with very little moonlight and no street lights. the good thing as well is that the truck drivers insurance company is also taking full responsibility for the accident. which means there wont be any issue of giving these parents a proper funeral. thats the last thing people need to worry about, who is at fault when you need to make funeral arrangements.

the family lives in sandy utah. they were headed to the denver area (forgot the city he told me) for a hockey game the oldest boy was supposed to play in. the oldest boy (17) was in the front passenger seat. the one with the door that was all messed up. in my first post i said he was walking funny after he was extracted, unfortunately he suffered a broken leg and a broken arm. luckily though, that the worst of his physical injuries. the youngest boy turns out to be 13. due to him being completely covered in blankets trying to keep him warm, i misjudged his age. he has a ruptured spleen some bruising, but he suffered a major concussion. at the scene, i almost took him to have some brain damage, but luckily no signs of anything like that. both boys are in a denver childrens hopsital recovering. they have family and friends there for support. they have an older sister in her 30s and a mother, she will probably take the boys once they are well enough to leave the hospital. the boys just found out yesterday that their parents didnt make it. i have a feeling the older one already knew, but the younest one.... man i feel for them. i cant imagine just waking up one day and being told your parents are dead. because for the younest one, thats pretty much what happened. i doubt he has any recollection of the accident.

i asked the officer to pass my name and phone number to the older sister. she is the one handling the situation for the family. im hoping to receive a call from her and hopefully a chance to visit the boys. i dont know how long they will be in denver but hope they dont have to stay long. hospitals are never fun. i will keep updating as i get more info on the boys. but for now they seem to be doing fine physically. lets hope the emotional side recovers as well.

 

Not many people have the training to do much more then sit and be idiots. I used to be CPR certified but my cert run out. I'm gonna update it. I would recommend it to everybody. It takes an afternoon but it's well worth the day. Was a boy scout and our leader always prep us for First Aid. Got the First Aid merit badge. We always were in the first aid meets. Ya jut got to do it and have the common (not today) courtesy to help your fellow man.

 

There are CPR certified people getting sued for trying to help out and the person dies anyway. As I said, tough to be a good samaritan these days in America.

https://www.cprcertified.com/blog/can-you-be-sued-for-performing-cpr

 

There used to be a Good Samaritan law. That would protect anyone trying to help.

 

Ask Lisa Torti.

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=6498405
http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1871331,00.html

 

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=42209957&nid=148

Here's the local news story on it

Thanks op for taking action

 

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=42222138&ni...boys-injured-in-car-crash-that-killed-parents

Something positive in their hard times

 

thank you for that. i didnt know there was a story on it.

 

Your welcome! I didn't think it was the same incident until I read your news update about driver escaping his rig

 

@nosbusa

I wouldn't be so hard on the bystanders man. It's not like they were mocking the dead or anything, not everyone has it in them to act like you did. It's just a fact and it not something that has changed or would have been different "in my generation". Most people go through life without ever needing to act like you did and they very well could have been in shock just from seeing the devastation.