Tales of a hit & run
Nov. 8th, 2007 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annwfynI had an odd morning this morning.
It started normally enough. I got up, I missed breakfast, but watched Cold Case, I stumbled out of the house. I started to drive towards college.
About eight minutes into the drive I came around the corner and saw a car stopped in the middle of the road with its hazard lights flashing, and another car pulling up just a little further. I assumed they had had a fender bumper and pulled out to drive around them. That's when I saw the old man lying in the road.
I almost drove on. There were three people standing there already, and I didn't want to rubber neck, but then I thought 'what if no one has a mobile phone' and remembered that I was once a St Johns Ambulance Brigade bod (although I think my training is woefully out of date) and then I think 'there's a man lying in the road', and pulled over. I figured if the people there had it all in hand I could go, but if they did need something...
As I was getting out of my car, the guy who had pulled up just in front of me was walking back to it. He was a young guy in his mid twenties - black, shaved head, quite good looking and with a gold chain around his neck. He was driving a black lexus. I asked "what's happening? Is that guy OK?"
He shrugged and said "yeah...I think someone hit him with a car or something" and then got in his car and drove away. I walked up towards the other two people (and there was a third who had just crossed the road from the industrial estate where he was working) as one of them pulled out their mobile phone to call an ambulance, and the other said "where's that guy going? He's the one who hit this guy! I thought he was going to get his phone."
In the end, me and another guy did our best to check the man who had been hit over. He was an old man, in his sixties. Apparently he'd been cycling back from his sisters, and this black lexus just clipped his bike. He said he had no pain in his neck or head, and could count the number of fingers I was holding up. His vision was clear, so we figured there was no head injury, and began to try and help him from the road where he was lying (with someone else trying to stand between him and any oncoming cars. That was when we realised he'd hurt his leg, and made the most horrible noises whenever it touched the ground. It was bent at a funny angle as well. I don't know if we should have left him, but he was in the road, and there were cars oncoming, so we sort of did a fireman's lift, and carried him to the pavement, where I sat with him until the ambulance got there.
The police arrived shortly after. Pretty much as soon as they found out the guy who had hit this poor old man had driven off they started looking pretty serious. They asked us all a load of questions. None of us had gotten the license plate of the man who had driven away. I still feel bad about that. I just didn't think. At least I got the colour and make of the car. We gave the best description we could, and the police started sending out radio alerts - 'all cars be on the look out for a black lexus, driver is a black male in his mid twenties with a shaved head. Suspected involvement in a hit and run accident'. They asked us all for our details and said they would be in touch.
I headed off to college. I thought I was fine, and then I arrived here and just started shaking. All I could think about was that poor old man, lying crumpled in the street. All I could hear were those awful noises when we tried to move him. He was just an old man. Why on earth would anyone want to just drive off and leave him there? He was still crumpled in the road, not quite conscious, when the guy in the lexus left. He could have been dying, he could have been seriously hurt.
It scared me how little I knew. I remembered what to do in case of head or neck injuries. I remembered all that, but I really didn't know what to do with a hurt leg. I don't know if it's broken or not. The angle it was lying at was a bit funny.
And...
I don't know. I am still feeling a bit funny about it. I really hope that poor old man is OK. And it does upset me a bit, that there are people who will just drive off from a situation like that. At least there were four of us who all stopped, who all did everything we could to help. That, at least, makes me feel a bit better about the world.
It started normally enough. I got up, I missed breakfast, but watched Cold Case, I stumbled out of the house. I started to drive towards college.
About eight minutes into the drive I came around the corner and saw a car stopped in the middle of the road with its hazard lights flashing, and another car pulling up just a little further. I assumed they had had a fender bumper and pulled out to drive around them. That's when I saw the old man lying in the road.
I almost drove on. There were three people standing there already, and I didn't want to rubber neck, but then I thought 'what if no one has a mobile phone' and remembered that I was once a St Johns Ambulance Brigade bod (although I think my training is woefully out of date) and then I think 'there's a man lying in the road', and pulled over. I figured if the people there had it all in hand I could go, but if they did need something...
As I was getting out of my car, the guy who had pulled up just in front of me was walking back to it. He was a young guy in his mid twenties - black, shaved head, quite good looking and with a gold chain around his neck. He was driving a black lexus. I asked "what's happening? Is that guy OK?"
He shrugged and said "yeah...I think someone hit him with a car or something" and then got in his car and drove away. I walked up towards the other two people (and there was a third who had just crossed the road from the industrial estate where he was working) as one of them pulled out their mobile phone to call an ambulance, and the other said "where's that guy going? He's the one who hit this guy! I thought he was going to get his phone."
In the end, me and another guy did our best to check the man who had been hit over. He was an old man, in his sixties. Apparently he'd been cycling back from his sisters, and this black lexus just clipped his bike. He said he had no pain in his neck or head, and could count the number of fingers I was holding up. His vision was clear, so we figured there was no head injury, and began to try and help him from the road where he was lying (with someone else trying to stand between him and any oncoming cars. That was when we realised he'd hurt his leg, and made the most horrible noises whenever it touched the ground. It was bent at a funny angle as well. I don't know if we should have left him, but he was in the road, and there were cars oncoming, so we sort of did a fireman's lift, and carried him to the pavement, where I sat with him until the ambulance got there.
The police arrived shortly after. Pretty much as soon as they found out the guy who had hit this poor old man had driven off they started looking pretty serious. They asked us all a load of questions. None of us had gotten the license plate of the man who had driven away. I still feel bad about that. I just didn't think. At least I got the colour and make of the car. We gave the best description we could, and the police started sending out radio alerts - 'all cars be on the look out for a black lexus, driver is a black male in his mid twenties with a shaved head. Suspected involvement in a hit and run accident'. They asked us all for our details and said they would be in touch.
I headed off to college. I thought I was fine, and then I arrived here and just started shaking. All I could think about was that poor old man, lying crumpled in the street. All I could hear were those awful noises when we tried to move him. He was just an old man. Why on earth would anyone want to just drive off and leave him there? He was still crumpled in the road, not quite conscious, when the guy in the lexus left. He could have been dying, he could have been seriously hurt.
It scared me how little I knew. I remembered what to do in case of head or neck injuries. I remembered all that, but I really didn't know what to do with a hurt leg. I don't know if it's broken or not. The angle it was lying at was a bit funny.
And...
I don't know. I am still feeling a bit funny about it. I really hope that poor old man is OK. And it does upset me a bit, that there are people who will just drive off from a situation like that. At least there were four of us who all stopped, who all did everything we could to help. That, at least, makes me feel a bit better about the world.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-08 03:51 pm (UTC)Sadly, there are too many arseholes in the world. An old woman got knocked down by a van just after I'd crossed the road in Camden a few years back, she was crossing behind me. I turned round to help, so did the guy next to me. About 50 other people used this as a chance to cross the road, with one man actually going to step over her as me and the only other person who gave a damn were trying to help her up. I had to push him away. It's unfortunate that we can't make the gits act like reasonable people, but as long as there are people who do stop and help, then there's some hope left. Or something.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-08 04:22 pm (UTC)With a bit of luck, the guy in the Lexus will have been caught on a camera somewhere, and they'll catch him.
I have to say, I'd know even less about what to do in that situation than you remembered. I had a tiny bit of first aid training while I was at school, but that has been about it.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-08 04:46 pm (UTC)Having a Cool head and a Warm heart is a mixture to aspire to. Well done !!!
You & the people who stopped to help the old lad easily outweigh the pond life git who knocked him down.
And as Adze said hopefully the shitebag will probably be on some camera and, I'm pretty sure, the penalties for hit & run are a touch more severe than for the road accident. So, as a result, laughing boy may not have his pretty Black Lexus for too much longer. Hopefully.
Proud to know you !
no subject
Date: 2007-11-08 05:39 pm (UTC)Good for you for stopping and helping out. Don't feel bad about not remembering to take a note of the registration mark; I'd be useless at recognising the car's make and model so you'd be doing a lot better than I on that one.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-08 05:43 pm (UTC)Well done again, though.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-08 08:22 pm (UTC)It was a fairly new looking Lexus, which I did tell the police, but that's as far as I could go. I just hope they do find the git.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-08 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-08 06:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-08 06:44 pm (UTC)I can do a slightly longer lunch on Saturday than Sunday, as I've got to head out towards Bishop Stortford on Sunday afternoon, but I can do either day.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-09 10:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-09 10:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-09 10:59 am (UTC)I'm not sure I've got your current phone no. Wanna email it to me?
no subject
Date: 2007-11-09 10:33 am (UTC)It's very shocking when stuff like that happens - a kid got run over by a teenager on a motorbike right outside my house, and it was amazing how little of a clue the general populace had.
If you are feeling really shaky you could phone the station and check how he is? The police should be able to figure it out, and will know the situation when they come and talk to you, as they know people will want to know.
Might be worth writing down everything you can remember about the guy now, it sounds like you'd be well placed to try a photofit or do a lineup?
no subject
Date: 2007-11-09 10:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-09 06:22 pm (UTC)You did good and should feel proud that you're a decent human being :)