Tragic accident.............

When I was really young and just starting, had to do a lot of this stuff. Maybe the worst was at an accident scene where a car and 18-wheeler collided. Not much left of the car. I walked over, took a look inside and then asked a cop where the victim was. "In the car," he said. Went back and looked again, and could barely make out the skeletal remains, as well as something that looked like a charred canteloupe (sorry for the image) that was the head. A 17-year-old girl.

There was a lot of stuff like that. The only thing that got me through that period, I think, was I was young myself and it just didn't have the impact on me that it would now, as a father.

Wouldn't want to do it again. So Chef, I feel you, man. Hang in there.

 

Stories like these are why my stints in news were very brief. Truly realized it when we were standing outside a house, making cracks about how fucked up this three-year-old was going to be as a grownup after watching her dad blow her mom's head off and then turn the gun on himself.

Chef, when you're ready ... go seek professional help. I'm not kidding. Talking to someone who's trained to deal with this shit helps a lot. It's called vicarious traumatization and some may choose to not believe it but I'd hazard a guess that most reporters suffer it.

 

Certain people would say that I don't support the troops for opposing the war. But it's worth noting here that soldiers face some serious issues with this sort of stuff, and we ought to think of them as we celebrate the holidays.

 

Only complete yeehaw morons who listen to Toby Keith think that way.

 

I have a couple. Three actually.

1.) A young man speeding on a motorcycle crashed into a brick wall leading into a driveway. He led with his head, and, needless to say, he was all over the place. The accident occurred at the home of a town councilman, and a few days later his wife noticed some brain matter near the mailbox (rural area), and called the Bumfuck PD. Bumfuck chief strolls out with a shovel, scoops up the material and simply tosses it into the ditch -- at which the mother was extremely pissed. She strolls up to the council meeting I happened to be covering and laid into the guy. There was not gentle way for me to write it, really, and there was a lot of negative comment on the whole matter. I still wish I'd handled it differently, but I don't know how I could've.

2.) At a notoriously dangerous intersection (at which my aunt has had a terrible accident, as well) a young girl was severed just above the waist, as was the car. Half of her was in the front of the car, and half was in the back seat of the car 75 yards away.

3.) An elderly man apparently didn't see the brake lights on the back of a mobile home being pulled along a country road. Head and shoulders were gone. Completely gone. Just a bloody mess on seat.

 

Chef, stay strong buddy. I can't say I know what you're going through because I don't. Hope today brightened things up.

 

I knew I had run over something because it made by car bounce, but I couldnt make out what it was because it was so mangled. I was hoping it was an animal, but in the back of my mind I knew it wasnt.