This happened in the late '90s...
Driving thru a small town just outside of St. Louis-as I pass by a pick up with turn signal on stopped to turn in the opposite ( on coming) lane-an old station wagon comes up behind the truck-brakes--skids sideways and slams the drivers side of the old wagon into the rear of the truck-I pull over about 50 meters past the accident-a lady gets out of the truck-she's on a phone, looks OK- then two kids get out of the wagon-one appears about 14 and the other maybe 8- they sit down beside the road. I think that I'll at least check the passengers just to be sure all are OK-I walk up to the wagon and the driver, a large lady, is sitting there-compound fracture of the left arm ( would have hit the window sill) and, having cut an artery she's blowing blood in puddles onto the pavement-Now I carry combat bandages in my old jeep- but I estimate that by the time I get to the jeep and get back- the lady will have bled out-so I take my pens out of my pocket-rip my shirt off and use it to put pressure on the artery-The fire men show up and they tell me don't let go until they get a cuff on her. They then cut her out of the car-I talk to an officer, then walk back to my jeep-bloody-no shirt-get about 10 miles away and discover that I have my prescription sun glasses on-but left my regular glasses in the shirt I used on the lady-Having been soaked in blood the shirt is gone- I order new glasses and go to work wearing my Army issue glasses (a good funny)-Two weeks pass and a friend encourages me to call the police in the town where the accident occurred-about the glasses- I think its futile-the firemen walked all over in the car when cutting her out-
But I call the police-and the officer says "Mr. -......... I have your glasses right here- the officer found them in the car and knew they didn't belong to the lady" They were in perfect condition.
The hospital had to amputate the poor lady's arm.
I know I asked about the kids at the accident scene-
The incident haunts me 15 years later. I apologize for the length of the story.

I hope your not second guessing your actions. You did everything by the book. You saved a life. Today if anyone even stops at an accident scene it's rare.

They'll stop to look, that's all.

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“Look life in its iron face”

Or video it on their smartphone!

Haunts you? Huh? You were the best thing that ever happened to that woman. I'm proud of you, you should be too. You were on the front line of a trauma scene and you absolutely saved the life of a dying woman. You should be haunted by the thought of you not being there for her. Well done Great Samaritan.

1994 I was doing an ER rotation at Evans Hospital as part of my EMT training.

Patient came in towards the end of the shift. She was morbidly obese and in hypoglcemic shock. She was covered in bed sores and her legs looked like someone had rubbed cornmeal into the skin until it caked.

We went to move her from the gurney to the bed and she ( I thought) pissed all over me. So as soon as we got her on the bed I went to wash up, while I’m scrubbing I hear one of the Docs commenting that she’s in renal failure. I said excuse me Dr. but the Patient justed pissed all over me could she do that if she were in renal failure. The Doc looks at me and says “That was her bowels”

Anyway the Dr. gave her some dextrose ( at least I think that’s what he said) and she started to come around. They had her on Os with a non-rebreather mask and as soon as she started to wake up she was trying to pull the mask off and screaming “I can’t breathe” “Help me, I can’t breathe.” And my shift ended and I never saw her again.

Here’s the haunting part.

I was sitting in class the next morning and the instructor was talking about the effects of alcohol on the blood stream. Alcohol causes your red blood cells to clump and prevents them from reaching portions of your brain, hence the “drunk” effect. So the instructor says “every time you take a drink imagine a million tiny little brain cells all saying Help. Help, I can’t breathe.”

And everyone in the class who had also done the ER rotation the night before absolutely LOST IT.

The instructor never understood what was so funny .

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Retired Career Security Guard

Long story short: One afternoon, I acted quickly and was able to save the life of a little girl. A co-worker (euphemism) complimented me to my face. However, he was also "the little bird who sat on the boss' shoulder and whispered in his ear." Reportedly, he told the boss I was a show-off, and the boss believed him.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

One that still haunts me is from the late 1980’s down in Houston, Texas. I was driving east towards town on Westheimer out by Wilcrest on the far West side of town. It was 3 or four lanes each direction and I think the speed limit was 40 or 45 out there.

I was behind a SUV about 50 yards when a west bound SUV going the opposite direction decided to turn across the east bout traffic lane. He angled across an hit the SUV in front of me head on at a 45 degree angle with both vehicles traveling pretty fast.

I stopped and ran over to the SUV that had been in front of me and the man in there was unconscious, pined in, and bleeding badly. He was young man of about 30, and he was drowning on his own blood. I supported his head so the blood could drain out of his mouth and he could breath and I held his head steady until the rescue people arrived. They took over and cut him out of the SUV, and helicopter him to the hospital, but he did not survive. I never went over to the other SUV.

I gave the police my name and contact information and told them what I had seen. I did not hear from them so I called and found out the date, time and location that the trial of the other driver was scheduled for. I showed up ready to testify as to what caused the accident, but the DA thought it was a simple accident and had no record of the death or that there was probably a negligent homicide case. He had no information or preparation for the case so it was dismissed. He did not even get a traffic ticket.

The idiot DA said no one could identify the other driver! They had his car, and they had his hospital records, what else did they need. They had no information as to the other driver’s intoxication level. It was a real disgusting situation and the dead man’s father was there and took it all much better than I did. It was the worst police and DA work I have ever heard of. Truly sad.

I still think about that tragic accident over 20 years later. I mean this was broad day light with perfect driving conditions and some fool just turned into traffic and killed the guy. Either he was blind or he was inebriated, not to have seen the on coming traffic.

Honestly, there's so many nasty incidents that I've been a part of, that I really wish there was a 'delete' button for them. But they're not going anywhere.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

Then again, the offender might have been someone of influence and money or both.

That would haunt me too, finesse_r. Appalling.

Many years ago, maybe 1967, I was a firefighter/chaplain for a very busy volunteer department located within the city limits. I once helped to remove four young people from a mangled car, one of them a girl who had been pretty once...

There was no real EMS in the city at that time. We did the best we could but were almost completely untrained in emergency medicine. Three of the kids in the car were already dead. The fourth died in my arms as we lifted him out. I sometimes wonder if we inadvertently killed him, but I don't think he had a chance. Those were very primitive times compared to today.

And there was the fire on which we backed up another department, a house fire in which a tiny, frail man of 92 who lived alone died. We laid him out on the grass and covered him with a sheet as we finished knocking down the fire while awaiting the coroner. And the poor old man couldn't stay covered. If we didn't watch the body constantly, gawkers would slip in and pull off the sheet. That bothered me a lot. No final dignity for this man who was bravely (and maybe unwisely) living alone at a very great age.

I've seen worse things since, but those stick with me for some reason.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Haunt me, no but I have a few incidents I was involved in thay I won't soon forget. Both were in the late 90s. While working security on night shift at a mall (no Geko45 jokes please) we responded to a alarm at a store on property but not connected to the mall. Dollar store. Apparently while the as the crew stayed on at night for inventory a disgruntled ex employee came back, took everyone outside and executed them with a 44 mag to the back of the head. Another time there was a movie theater shootout between Asian gang members

Quite a few in this lifetime. One that really threw me was when I was about 15 or 16 on the beach at the Jersey shore. me and a couple buds spotted a guy beyond the breakers doing "dead man's float." Except he never came up for air. We ran in to "save" him but it turned out he had been in the water a long time. When we turned him over, the "sea creatures" had been at him. Nuff said. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

There were a bunch during the terminal phase (eight months) of my wife's cancer. Top three that I'm prepared to share:

1) My wife on a very lucid day in hospital going through the Do Not Resuscitate paperwork with me.

2) That same lucid day she was looking sadly at the mess they had made of her arms getting the drip in this time. This was the third or fourth time she had been taken to hospital from the skilled nursing center and about six weeks before she died. I told her that if she felt she had had enough of such emergency treatment and wanted just hospice care, that I would understand. She looked at her arms, smiled sadly and said, "I think we might be getting there."

3) At about 6pm on the day my wife passed, the doctor coming off his 12 hour shift called me to the edge of her area and with tears in his eyes told me that having her on the DNR list was the right thing. She had been admitted on his shift and he knew there was no more he could do.

Giving CPR to my emaciated, already dead, mother.

There have been a few,the one that comes back was the sister that overnighted a package to me that included the titles to her cars and a suicide note.It was postmarked in a town about 100 miles away.I called the PD there and then waited 3 hrs before contacting anyone in the family since I had no answers.They found her in time.The one that never leaves is the alcoholic ex wife and mother of my kids.Im just waiting for that call.

Dec. 11, 1965. First time I ever fired a weapon at another human being. We took fire from a Junk while flying at 500' altitude. Left it smoking with people floating in the water. One of many memories from that time that has haunted me daily for the past 49 years.

I can't dwell on the dozen or so deaths/bodies I witnessed/found before I was out of my teens. I'd rather remember the ones that may have gone south if I had looked the other way. My part, great or small in those instances keeps that spark in my soul alive.

I was on the day shift for a time in the 80's. Driving down a major street at mid-day, I saw heavy smoke coming from just around the corner on a major cross street. After turning down there and getting past some of the backed-up traffic, I saw a head-on collision in the center of the road. One of the vehicles, one of those old vans with the engine between the front seats, was almost completely involved, and the driver was trapped. He was alive and screaming as the right side of his body was in flames. I ran over and burned my hands trying to open the door or otherwise get him out, but it just wouldn't budge. Not one bystander would help. Thankfully the FD pulled up within a minute, and this fireman who was literally twice my size yanked the door open and got the driver out.
I found out later that he had a passenger. 9 months pregnant, she was ejected by the impact and was severely, severely injured. Neither she nor her baby survived. The driver did, although he needed months of therapy and surgeries.
I also found out later that I'd run past the other driver when I first arrived. He was unhurt. And really drunk around noon on a work day... we got a conviction as I recall but it was no victory.

LVSteve, I have similar memories surrounding my wife's death. Many of them. I can't say they haunt me actively after almost nineteen years, but they are always there. Your post brought them vividly to the surface.

I think about it more this time of year--she died soon after Christmas that year--and even more lately since my brother's death three months ago.

A different kind of haunting for me, but very real sometimes.

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Oh well, what the hell.

There was a time span of a few years that seemed to engulf me. I saved about 8 lives in aquto accidents, a boat flipped and threw all 3 occupants out, righted it's self and was running wide open hitting the folks every time, I ran down the shore got a guys attention and we pulled them out. Another fella 65-70 years old who had polio as a youth and never learned to swim ran his car down a lake bank at high speed when his foot in braces locked up. It barrel rolled out into deep water. Drove over, swam out and pulled him out and to safety. A bunch of us went to the Tulsa Gun show, one night we were on Harvard or Yale eating at a seafood place. A lady and her husband was seated next to us. She choked on her food and after it was apparent she was not going to cough it up I did the Heimlich And popped out the food. She said thanks, and the bar gave me one beer....

I was written up in a newspaper and a magazine, there were some more incidents. Not bragging, had military medic training and it paid off. I was glad to be at the right place and right time for those folks.

When I stepped up for these folks it was from a promise I made top myself when younger. I totaled my Austin Healy 3000, was covered in blood, had taken a big hit to the head and everything was grey. I laid in a ditch, many folks stopped and looked, many made wonderful comments, like do you think he's dead? I could barely see if I kept my head touching the ground and barely opened my eyes. Some folks would drive off and come back for more looks. One of them was my HS typing teacher. Many cars that had multiple passengers would stare at the blood covered lump and would tell other occupants, don't get out,don't get involved. Laying there that day I learned how most people really are. I swore I would stop and help. And I did.

I have two that I'll talk about.

The first is giving my old man CPR when I was twenty.

The second, my mom trying to stick a kitchen knife in my gut one night when she was drunk.

The other, harder to deal with ones, I'll keep to myself.


Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

Hello Shoulda,you doing OK? If you ever need someone to talk to please call.

Got one strikingly similar.
Truck meets Wagon when the wagon rolled the stop sign.
No one to save, and some rather disturbing things that cannot be unseen.

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it just needs more voltage

When I was 17 I felt my job to go to lunch on Grand Ave in St. Louis. Sunday afternoon, sparse traffic. Walked up on a shabbily dressed man lying on the sidewalk. Blood running from beneath his head. I looked around then ran as fast as I could. Was he still alive? Why didn't I try to get help. I don't know.

That is one that haunts me. The other I can't speak about but it may be even worse.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

Having been in healthcare for over 45 years, the last 16 in a very busy pediatric ER and over 35 years in law enforcement as a reserve officer I have seen way too many things that no one should ever see.

One that does stay with me was a five month old child shot by her father because the wife was preparing to leave him.

Upon arrival one wound to the neck was observed. We continued the resuscitation attempt until I located the second wound to the right side of her head. The wound pattern had tattooing, where the burning powder had scorched the skin. At that point we stopped the effort.

He also murdered her older brother but he was cared for by another team.

There are others just not wanting to go there now.

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I am a sheep dog!
1601 (ret)

.............and full of problems for quite a while, but it came home very strongly to me one night long ago.

On second thought, will just leave that in the past.

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LEX ET ORDO

So far, the only two things that haunt me are of a personal family level - I live with them but won't post them here.

OP ~ Don't think of your incident as a haunt - you saved a life and for that, I salute you!

I guess I'm fortunate not to have anything that haunts me, catastrophe-wise.

I've been able to render aid a couple of times that could have turned out badly for those involved. I was blessed to have been in a position to help.

On a lighter note: I thought one time I was going to have to be part of a body recovery from the ocean. Standing watch as OD on my Coast Guard cutter, I was called by my lookout to help him figure out what he was seeing through his binoculars, floating in the water somewhere offshore in the Bahamas. We altered course to draw nearer, and as we approached, it quickly became clear that this was a human form, face down and not moving. Oh boy.

The figure was clad in an orange wetsuit, which seemed odd for the tropical waters. When we came alongside, the back of the head was bright orange, and there were no hands or feet.

To our surprise (and relief), what we were seeing was the man-overboard dummy that another Coast Guard cutter had lost over the side a few days earlier! Those dummies all are named "Oscar" due to the signal flag "O" that is flown to show a vessel is responding to a man overboard. They're often made by stuffing an old wetsuit with buoyant material, and tying on a round orange buoy for a head. "Oscar" is thrown overboard now and then so that the crew can practice what everyone hopes is a scenario that will never happen.

The cutter's name was on her "Oscar," and we had a lot of fun sending a message from our CO to her CO, saying that we had recovered crew member Oscar D. Seaman from the water, gave the latitude and longitude coordinates where we found him, and said that he was requesting return to his unit as well as back pay and allowances.

Had even more fun when we rendezvous'd a couple of days later and made the transfer.

Ironically, the name of the cutter that lost Oscar was the Escape, a former Navy tug turned CG cutter, and now de-commissioned.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

Back in 1984 a friend and I were driving from Ft. Knox to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis to help a friend with the FTX for his military explorer post.

As it turned out, one of the parents was a jackass who at the last minute didn't want his kid handling guns... IN A MILITARY EXPLORER post.

Since we were supposed to be the OPFOR, we decided that as Infantry captains, we weren't going to run around going "bang, bang". So we decided to head back to Kentucky.

On the way back, a guy decided that he'd run us off the Interstate/carjack us. His victim selection process was highly flawed.

The guy passed us, then started slowing down while weaving from side to side so that we couldn't get around him.

I got my friend's HK93A3 out of the carrying case, loaded a forty round magazine and chambered a round. When the guy was right on our front bumper, my buddy hit the dome light so that the guy running us off the road could see me in my OPFOR uniform, pointing an "assault rifle" at him. He took off going about 100mph.

This happened right about the time that serial child molester, carjacker, murderer Alton Coleman was doing his midwest tour. If I'm not mistaken, he carjacked and murdered a woman in Toledo after our incident took place. I've always wondered whether it was Coleman trying to change vehicles (or just kill somebody for fun). If it had been him, and we'd let him force us off the road and he'd gotten "playful", maybe that woman in Toledo would still be alive...

Some of the accident scenes I've witnessed still haunt me to this day. I wasn't able to help out in most cases as they were fatal on impact but the aftermath sticks with me.
My wife has been an ER and OR nurse for too many years now and has shared some stories with me. She has PTSD from it all and can't forget much of what she's seen and done.
I have the utmost respect for health care workers and what they do.

About 15 years ago we shared a driveway with a commercial painter. He was a lifelong heavy smoker and had to pass a physical in order to use a respirator. One year he didn't pass but he had to work so he did without a respirator. He basically painted the inside of his lungs with epoxy resin paint. He developed a chronic cough and raspy voice.

One day I was bringing the trash cans up and saw him at his door. He managed to croak out "call 9-1-1-". I ran into my house and yelled for my wife to make the call. By the time I got back to his house he was passed out on the kitchen floor with frothy pudding like blood bubbling from his mouth and nose. Obviously I couldn't do anything for him. The EMTs arrived in good time but he was DOA.

He lived alone and was estranged from his family. I had to search his house for an address book. I finally got the phone book and started calling everyone with his unusual last name. Finally someone returned my call and was a cousin or something. They were able to get ahold of his son and daughter. The son came long enough to empty his wallet and take his beer and cigarettes. I don't think the daughter ever came.

The kitchen was a slaughterhouse but I cleaned it up so the relatives wouldn't come in and see it that way.

I've checked "Like" on a number of posts not because I like them, but I acknowledge their severity or the decency and courage of those of you who cared to help. Me, I was only a "show-off," but that child survived, as did 4 others.

What troubles me greatly, is the lack of concern by the legal system in our country for motor vehicle fatalities, that is, for those who recklessly cause them. There seems to be no meaningful penalty or punishment.

Kaaskop49
Shield # 5103

...or video it with their phone.

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Stay protected my friends.

Well, just make sure you "show off" at every opportunity!

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Stay protected my friends.

Perhaps on the criminal side of the aisle that is the case sometimes, and it is truly unfortunate. Remember, though, that there can be a civil case with every auto accident, and the party responsible can be sued for wrongful death. At that point, the person's motor vehicle insurance carrier usually picks up the cost of the defense, but there can be cases where the amount of coverage available is insufficient to cover the damages to life, and judgment can be made against the individual as well. Assuming the person has any assets, this can be a way that the victim's estate can recover in some fashion, albeit always insufficiently, for the negligence of the driver who was at fault.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

As a teen, I lived in Ozone Park, Queens, a neighborhood laid out in a grid. Two cars traveling at considerable speed met at exactly 90 degrees and exactly at the corners of their front bumpers, almost like it was staged. The car on the left, traveling on 76th Street, veered to the left, jumped a curb, hit a utility pole and momentarily bounced up from the impact.

The car on the right veered into a right spin, flinging its driver out the door by centrifugal force. His body skidded across the pavement and went under the other car at the instant it was still airborne. A moment later the car crashed down upon him, leaving just his lower legs exposed.

Neighbors came running and it took about 30 seconds for enough men to be present to lift the car while me and someone else took him by the legs and pulled him out. He had internal injuries and was unconscious. Fortunately, police and an ambulance arrived quickly. I never learned whether on not the guy survived his injuries.

Two quick ones:
When I was in High School I was walking home one night around midnight. Car load of HS kids is coming toward me, swerves, goes off the road and flips over - landing upside down about 15 feet down in a drainage ditch. I'm the only one around. I run over and jump down on the bottom of the car. Kids screaming like crazy. I RECOGNIZE ALL THE VOICES BECAUSE I GO TO SCHOOL WITH THEM. 7 people in that car. Doors won't open - pinned to sides of ditch. I get them to roll down (up) the windows and start pulling people out...they all lived.

Next story. Three of us are driving westbound down Seawall blvd in Galveston, Tx. Car right in front of us swerves across 3 lanes of oncoming traffic, bounces over the boardwalk, smashes into a tree/box then disappears over the seawall. We screech to a halt, my friend and I run over and look '$%^& it sank!' Then we look straight down, it's a Datsun B210 that nosedived into the rocks. We climb down there and the two guys legs are pinned tight and they are 'messed' up bad. Ok, not trying to be funny here - but the passenger guy says "hey, through this beer away for us" and hands us a 6 pack. My friend throws it in the ocean. Well, it floats. That's one thing I learned that day: beer floats in salt water...also, don't drink and drive. I never heard what happened to those two guys.

Like others have said, I'm still trying hard to forget the blood and broken bones...

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But then, what do I know?

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

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Oh well, what the hell.

I guess my mind doesn’t really hold onto things the way some people’s do so there really isn’t a whole lot that I could say “Haunts me”

I’ve seen any number of bodies but I guess the first time I had to (literally) put someone in the morgue stands out.

The charge nurse called me at the SDNCO desk and asked me to meet her in the morgue I went down there and they had the body on the gurney; she opened the bag and checked the guy’s toe tag against her paperwork. Since I wasn’t familiar with the procedure I asked why she said she wanted to make sure it was the right guy. I recall asking her if there was anyone else that died in the hospital that day. She said “No” and I responded “Then I’m gonna go with “that’s the right guy. “ ( she gave me "the look")

So the nurse grabs his feet and the other medic grabs his shoulders and they pick him up before I can get a grip and his head fell back onto the gurney, it sounded like a coconut when it hit the table and I remember saying “Watch his head.” And the other medic looked at me and said “Why?” which made me stop and think.

Anyway we got the guy into the cold storage drawer and I went back to the SDNCO desk to finish my lunch. I sat down picked up what ever was on the plate, looked at my hands and threw the whole plate into the trash.

There’s one other story that comes to mind for this and it’s real brief I was driving to Omaha from somewhere (can’t remember where) and I got tired at about 4 or 5 AM and pulled into a rest area for a nap.

The next thing I remember it was daylight and some guy (I think) was trying to get in my car.

As soon as I sat up he started talking (through the window) about being broke and wanting to know if I would give him 5 bucks to wash my windows.

By that time I was awake enough to think semi straight and I sat up adjusted my seat, started the car and drove away from the guy without saying a word.

The reason the story came to mind I told it to a coworker one night and also told him that I hadn’t been able to sleep in a car since. He said “After all this time it still haunts you.” But that’s the only connection to this thread.

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Retired Career Security Guard

Sounds like the story from a guy who used to be married to one of my cousins, Mick. He came across a wreck on a divided highway where a guy had attempted to do a U-turn through an opening in the divider and got collected by a fast moving car. Mick was a body builder, so he tapped the first attempted rescuer on the shoulder who took one look and handed over his crowbar. Mick rips the car apart, including levering the dash/bulkhead off the driver's legs. He picks the guy up to lay him on the grass divider away from the smoking car and notices that the feet are facing the wrong way.... Mick said the blood all over the guy's face hadn't fazed him at all, but at that point he felt ill.

Seems that LE were sick of wrecks on that road, as demonstrated by the following. When they arrived they looked at the car and asked who extracted the driver. Mick stuck his hand up.

"Nice work", said the cop, "Witness the wreck?"

Mick replied, "Sorry, no".

The cop made a face and said, "OK. **** off then".

Yes, But there not for here.

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Carpriver.

Late one night I saw a car get T boned and fly into the air spinning around ejecting people all over the place. I stopped and ran over to see if I could help. I won't describe what I saw but I decided very quickly that there was no way I could 'help' with anything there and ran to a nearby tavern and called 911. I don't think the people made it, but I hoped they did.

Another involves a neighbors dog that always got half an inch from your foot biting and barking at it while you were riding a bicycle, while the old man (real piece of work, that family) stood there and said, 'Don't worry he won't bite you.' The dog never did bite, but you could feel his breath on your ankle. One day it was snooping around a moving van across the street and I prayed that the dog would get run over. (It was misplaced, of course, I should have been more angry at the owner, but I was a kid) I turned to leave and heard the truck start up and ARROOOOP, the truck had run over the dog and split it open. It was running around howling and came into my yard and looked at me like it was asking if I could help it. To make a long story short, that vision has never left me. I feel pretty sick at myself for feeling like I did and wishing the dog dead.

I think I'll cut it off here. These memories really bother me.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I have 2. First one was in VA. I was a cop there and was dispatched to a T-bone TA. Drunk driver turned in front of a truck. Drunk drivers daughter was in the passenger seat, 8, 9 years old. Got killed instantly. Drunk driver actually fought us, not to try to get to his daughter, but to keep from being arrested.

Second was in 2011. I was on patrol and came across a rollover that had just happened. When I ran up to the truck, the frame above the window on the passenger side was literally crushing and cutting a guys head in half. Myself and a soldier who happened to come by lifted the truck off of the guys head and held it there until FD got there and braced it. That guy was messed up enough, but lived. What I didn't see when I got there was the guy in the front passenger seat who was crushed by the truck rolling. He didn't make it.

The accident detectives did an amazing job with the case. I was really impressed. Driver was found not-guilty on all charges. A juror stated later that the jury knew that the driver was guilty, but did not want to put a soldier in jail, so they voted not guilty.

I don't know if it haunts me but I wish I was never there. I was around 17 I would guess. I was walking past a canal that was about 1.5 miles long and opened to the ocean. The closed end had a concrete box from a drainage ditch. It was like a platform at the water's edge. Some guy was near that and started to yell for me to come over like it was an emergency. I jogged over and saw a man strapped in a electric wheelchair head under water. It is amazing what can go through your mind in a split second. The water is nasty looking, the bottom looks dangerous, why is the guy who called me over not jumping in? I see bubbles coming out of the guy's mouth, I jump in and try to pull him out. I remember trying to lift him out and it was so damn heavy, I could get his head out but no more. I don't remember much when I was in the water but I got some help from others to get the chair and all out. Once out I looked him over and saw that this man had a severe disability, he had to drive with a joystick, probably did not have much control of his arms either.
The part that really bothers me was a comment from the guy who originally called me over. He started to wonder if the guy was trying to kill himself and wondered if we did the right thing. I did not even think of that to that point. I started to think that if I managed to roll myself into the water to finally end my suffering, then I get pulled out by a passerby how would I like it. This guy had found the only spot where he could roll himself into the water and have it deep enough. When you happen on something like that there is no time to think, it's help or not. Hell for all I know the guy who called me over could have pushed him in then had second thoughts.
Ambulance arrived and I split. I saw in the paper that he lived.

Incidents that have hung with me? In August 1998 I was burned in a gas fire behind the parsonage. I was messed up. Thank God the girls were at school. My wife worked at night so she was asleep in the back of the house. She said what woke her up was she heard me screaming and praying. As I was trying to get up off the ground, I looked up and saw my wife. She was calm and talking to me very easy. If she hadn't gotten to me when she did, I would have been ruined.

Conducting the funeral services for my mother (6/03) ... then my identical-twin brother (4/04)... then my father (9/07).

The Sunday afternoon my daughter called to tell me that she'd come back to her apartment to find that someone had kicked the door off the hinges and robbed her. It was a nice place, but they hit all three apartments in the building. She waited till after the morning worship service to call b/c she said she didn't want me to be worried. She wouldn't let us come up to help. Told us she stayed in her apartment that night and dealt w/ the police, etc. That girl is tough... just like her mother!

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May 31, 1985. One week after my 12th birthday. 6:28 pm. a tornado took our home. our neighbor had a pheasant farm. he was feeding the birds when it hit. he took a cement block to the head. he is still alive, but seeing his wife holding his unconscious head in her lap as his scalp flapped behind was what led me to volunteer for the local volunteer fire company shortly after i turned 18. that lessened the barnyard full of severely injured animals that met us at the end of his driveway.

and that is what led me to the 2nd and 3rd instance. being a rural company, most of our calls were traffics accidents. many vs deer, 2 vs cow and 2 vs bear. most were single vehicle though. i was commuting to college, maintaining a 3.4 gpa and working 35-39 hours a week while making 93% of our calls. my part time job was at a grocery store as a bagger that carried the groceries to the car for the customers. i was done at noon that day and being summer, had no classes. about 6pm or so that evening, we got the call about a single vehicle in the woods. upon arriving at the scene and gearing up, i immediately recognized the vehicle as one of my last customers that day. his eggs and milk that i had bagged, just before noon, were still with him. he also had a branch through him and the back of his seat. his wife later informed the dept. that he had had a heart attack and most likely was dead before he had been impaled.

the last one happened maybe the same year, on December 23rd. another traffic accident, temps well below freezing and snow showers mixed with freezing rain. the call came around 12:30. the car had two occupants and had crossed the road and gone into a little culvert. i was put on the nozzle as our emt's worked to extricate. the passenger was pretty banged up, but ok and was easy to get out. the driver had not been wearing a seat belt. the ambulance crew said his chest was like jelly. we lost him. he and his passenger had been working oil fields and were almost home. his family lived just a few miles away and heard the call on their scanner. they showed up at the scene. watched as his lifeless body was taken from the car and into the ambulance as the paramedics continued trying to revive him and all of the rescue workers blocked the local photographer from taking pics of him in the back of the ambulance. watching his family is what sticks with me the most.

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SDMF

As the only Officer 10-8 I was dispatched to "Shots In A Wooded Lot".
Arrived at the scene and exited my vehicle.
Caution following a foot path, hearing more "Shots" I rounded a bend in the path and a male turned toward me holding a black/blue Colt Python.
I yelled "Drop the Weapon, Police Officer". The male started to point the revolver and I ducked for cover. Long story short it turned out to be teenagers with fire crackers and a pellet gun that was a replica of a Colt Python (without the red tip). To this day I thank God I took cover instead of firing my weapon. (this why Officers have grey hair and ulcers)

With so much death in my lifetime things don't haunt me. The one that's I remember the most was a good younger friend who came to visit me while he was on leave from the Navy in 72, when I got home from SE Asia. We talked had a good time and he told me about his girl friend and his plans. I didn't know at the time she broke up with him just that day. We said goodbye and he drove home and killed himself. Never saw it coming and can't take it back he was 18 but he is one of the many I think about to this day.

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Psalm 23:4

Vietnam War