December 20, 2011
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A Christmas Tragedy
I work in Downtown Dayton. I take a 20 minute drive to get there down Main Street.
Today, as I was driving to work, about 5 minutes into my trip, I saw about four police cars, 2 ambulances, and a fire truck all in the middle of the road. I thought to myself, “Wow, that must be some wreck.”
As I slowly drove past the accident, I saw two cars stopped in the middle of the road with all the emergency vehicles surrounding them. They didn’t look like they had any damage done to their cars. There was another police car and another ambulance driving up Main, and I noticed in between the two cars was a paramedic giving CPR to a person laying on the ground. I wondered if a person suffered a heart attack while driving, causing the accident.
I felt terrible. All I could think of was, “Oh, Jesus! Help this situation!” And I kept repeating that all the way to work.
I had to go in to work and pretty much pretend that I hadn’t seen anything, but my soul was crushed by what I had seen.
I got off work 3 hours later. As I was on my way back home, the emergency vehicles had blocked off the entire road. I had to find a different way to get home, but I was really surprised to see the cars still there. As I said, there didn’t seem to be any noticable damage to either of the cars I saw in the middle of the road.
Upon getting home, I decided to check the news to see what had happened. LINK
A 34 year-old woman got hit by a car heading south, which threw her in the path of a car going north, as she was crossing the street. Despite the paramedic’s best efforts, the woman he was giving CPR to had died.
There have been many times where I would almost hit pedestrians crossing the street in Dayton. So many people don’t use the cross walks and walk dangerously close to passing cars. In fact I read in the news that only days ago, a 23 year-old man was struck and killed as he was crossing Main Street too. It’s sad that things like this have to happen.
The worst of it all is, it is so close to Christmas. For this woman’s family, Christmas will never be the same again.
To think… If I had been there just a minute sooner, I would have seen the entire accident. I don’t know how I would have taken that. I’m rather sensitive.
So please pray for the families of this woman. Pray for the elderly man and the young woman who hit her. Nobody expects things like this at Christmas time.
Comments (7)
“So many people don’t use the cross walks and walk dangerously close to passing cars”
My goodness. Anti-stupidity enthusiasts would gloat about accidents happening to people who risk their lives by breaking rules of the road. More than a year ago, I would’ve joined in the jeerings, saying “Well you brought it upon yourselves!” … However, I don’t think it’s healthy to get all worked up and dwell on the negative things that others do. And I also feel bad about the families they’d have left behind. Perhaps they had so many problems, they unconsciously wanted to kill themselves.
So anyway. Too bad they died around Christmas. Did they overspend for the holidays or something?
Oops. The ideas I get…
@boilingicicle - Yeah… I’m not about to get into the jeering. I’m very sympathetic for this individual, though, I do wish it would have been different; that she would have used the cross walk instead. It’s just a sad thing…
i can’t promise something I might not do. but indeed, it is sad… and grownups know the consequences of not using the crosswalk/j-walking.
I was there right after it happened and she still had a pulse, I asked the people there if they had called 911 and they said yes. I saw that she wasnt breathing and asked a nurse that was there on the scene if she might have an injured neck and to hold her neck and turn her over and start chest compressions. We rolled her and started chest compressions and the paramedics showed up in probably less then a minute. They worked on her for at least a half an hour with no response. I’m having a hard time getting this out of my head. I just pray for her nad her family now.
@BenelliMan - It’s alright. I’m not trying to preach on the dangers of j-walking… some people just do it so carelessly, and honestly, I don’t know this woman’s situation.
@hcraigap - I’ll be sure to pray for you as well. It’s good that you tried to help when you were there.
Out of curiosity, how did you find this page?
Prayers abundant, for all who suffer, and particularly for this woman, her family, those who witnessed, those who drove the cars, and those who offered their aid. Our town had a spate of pedestrians hit by cars this past year, most in crosswalks when they were struck, one near hit I saw – the truck close enough for the woman (in the crosswalk, with the signal to cross) for her to kick its bumper in her fear and rage. May all who drive be aware that they operate an instrument of deadly force, may all who travel, by any means, be alert and compassionate to all around them.
That is really sad