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

[Chef]

We covered a horrific accident out here this morning......

2 vehicle crash on icy highway........woman from another vehicle gets out to check on people in other cars to make sure they are alright......semi comes along.........

yep.

still waiting on next of kin.

I was walking in front of the semi, when one of the guys I was walking with (hiway patrolman)......."Get him (coroner)out here, we got a code black"

I happen to turn my head to the underside of the truck, and all I see is skin and blood.

I may not be going to sleep for a couple days.

 

[Trouser_Buddah]

Good luck with all that, seriously... :'(

 

[statrat]

That is awful. I got pressed into news duty with some ice storm stuff as well, but nothing like that. Hope you never have to see that again.

 

[alleyallen]

So sorry you have to have that kind of emotional gut-punch so closely to the holidays. Just hope you're OK and that you feel better tomorrow.

And to all the victims involved, my thoughts.

 

[writing irish]

The only possible way I can think of putting a positive spin on something so incomprehensibly horrifying: a reminder of how fragile life is, and how fortunate we are to be here and to have the ones we love.

God bless...

 

[KYSportsWriter]

I couldn't imagine having to go through something like that. Just be glad you're OK.

 

[Cadet]

Wow. Sympathies for those involved, and for you, Chef.

I've always found that a coping mechanism for dealing with tragedy when you've witnessed the gruesome side of it is knowledge: finding out everything you can about the situation, the people involved, any resolutions. For me it helps to process what has gone on. Hopefully you can find some peace by doing your job.

 

[Songbird]

Tough to see, no doubt. I remember going to a death scene for the first time, seeing a dead body for the first time, while working overseas. My only advice is to not block it out. Let your emotions run their course. Talk to anyone who will listen. If it moved you to the point of tears, cry. We're also here to listen.

 

[BYH]

My first lesson on the fragility and randomness of life occured this week in 1988. Six kids from my school, including two who lived one street away from me, celebrated the last day of school prior to Christmas break by going to the mall. Their car skidded out on the icy highway, spun around, hit a barrier and sent the kids in back flying out the window.

They all hit the barrier separating the road from the steep hill below. One girl sliced her leg on the barrier and almost lost the leg. One boy sliced his leg on the barrier and lost the leg. And one girl died.

I'll never forget my sister's best friend running down the street screaming "DID YOU HEAR SHAWN DIED??"

I barely knew the girl, but it was the first time someone I regularly saw at school died. (A kid in my elementary school was killed in a small plane crash years earlier) And to happen two days before Christmas...just awful.

I'll never forget the first day of school after Christmas break. One of the kids who wasn't physically injured was in my homeroom. What do you say to him? "Hi Brian" worked pretty well.

There was a moment of silence prior to first period that lasted about two minutes. Couldn't hear a peep. As it ended, our English teacher--a widower who was pushing 80--took off his glasses, wiped his eyes, put his glasses back on and began the lesson. That sight has always stuck with me: An older man who has seen his share of sadness silently reduced to tears.

The most random thing? We were supposed to have a full day of school that Friday but city-wide complaints led the superintendent to announce on monday we'd have a half-day Friday. If we'd had a full day Friday...

 

[Idaho]

Crap like this is another reason I'm glad I cover sports. I had a hard enough time seeing stitches removed from my kid's split noggin. I'd be barfing all over the road if I came across a scene like this one.

Try some Nyquil if needed, chef.

 

[slappy4428]

That's a tough one... sorry you had to be there, brother...

 

[silvershadow1981]

goodness, that sounds absolutely horrifying. Sorry you had to see that.

 

[User 1019]

Hey, man. In times like this a six-pack sure does help.

 

[Freelance Hack]

Worst accident I recall covering was one involving a bat-**** senile woman. Although just a few people knew her name, she was highly recognizable because she would walk up and down the main road connecting the county's two biggest cities. She had a penchant for often wandering into the middle of a lane, forcing cars to swerve out of her way. And she'd yell at the drivers as if it was their fault she nearly died.

One day, there was a car that couldn't/didn't swerve. The photog and I arrive at the accident scene. The body, located just a few feet from the car, is already covered. Some 75 feet past the body, something else is covered. I ask the officer what's covered over there.

"The victim's leg," he said.

 

[shotglass]

At 17, I was summoned downtown by the town cops, because I shot some sports photos for the weekly paper and there was no other photog available. A 5-year-old kid I knew in passing had tried to hitch a ride on the train that goes through the middle of town, and was pulled under the wheels.

I lost quite a bit of my innocence that day, shooting pieces of body over a two-block stretch.

 

[Killick]

Not as gruesome, but one summer vacation in college, was working for the Ohio Dept of Transportation, painting buildings. Bunch of us college kids, two or three full-timers. I'm in one van with full-timers, and a car from oncoming traffic hydroplanes and goes head-on into the ODOT van in front of us filled with college kids like me. Our people are fine, but we realize the other car is sitting on its roof, overturned in a water-filled ditch. Held the car up out of water with two other guys and a wedged-in ladder (just to keep the vic's head out of water) until EMTs showed. They pulled the guy out of the car with a neck brace on, but even with that his neck was bending like no neck should. Yep. Broken neck. Guy turned out to be a youth pastor at a church, and I got a note from his wife thanking me for trying. Took a while to get that out of my head. .

 

[Bubbler]

Jesus, Chef, good luck dealing with that. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

 

[2underpar]

I covered an 18-wheeler, car wreck one time. 18-wheeler slammed into the back of a vehicle that was stopped for road construction. When they unfolded the back seat, an elderly couple was under it.
as bad a scene as I've ever been around.
Walking up, I was told there were four people in the car, but I only saw the two in the front seat. I wasn't prepared for the couple in the back seat.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

What Songbird said ... we're here if you need to vent further.

And thanks for the reminder that though many of our individual situations suck, it can always be worse. It takes crap like this to remember that - at least for me entirely too often.

 

[Trey Beamon]

Sorry to hear that, Chef.

My grandfather was a volunteer firefighter and witnessed the ugly side of death more than most. Then again, seeing such an accident once is more than enough.