I dont think you're ever prepared to see a dead person

[RICH17]

At least I now know that I wasn't.



Last night I got home around 4:50. Went inside and still had the house open since it was nice. Started putting clean dishes away and got dinner going. About 5:15 I heard a Harley come off of Park Blvd and got on it hitting 3RD gear. I'm only the 3rd house on the street. He was flying. Then I heard tire squeal. Then I heard nothing. I knew something had happened. But I wasn't prepared for it. I see my neighbors car halfway in the driveway and started walking that way. Another neighbor came out and already had 911 on the phone. I get closer. Talking to my neighbor lady in the car and she was shaken badly but she was alright. I started getting closer to the guy, he wasn't moving, his legs were twisted around each other. His face was bloody. He was lifeless. I didn't see him breathing, his chest wasn't moving, nothing. I was going to check for a pulse, or at least get closer, but I couldn't. Then a cop car came running down the street. the officer sees the man on the ground and radios for response quickly. A neighbor brought towels and the officer used them to put pressure on his face. I see the officer try to roll the guy on his back. But he couldn't do it so I offered to assist. We got him on his back and then I see his foot hanging off his leg, barely holding on. His face was gone. I had to walk away.


I don't know how first responders do it. Maybe they become immune. Maybe they just don't feel it. But I did. and I still do today.

Click to read more...

 

[Chet Donnelly]

Wait...why were you doing the dishes?

In all seriousness...that sucks. Always wondered myself how EMT's deal with that...

 

[Yaj Yak]

whoa. sorry you had to see that rich.

but yeah, they get immune. it's different how they all deal with it, i have some firemen buddies and yeah, it's kind of twisted how okay they become with it, but better them than me. and i respect what any of those people can do.

 

[Euro]

Holy cow dude. Who did the biker hit?

I never could understand the number of people who just feel the need to let their vehicle loose once they turn on to your street....a 25mph residential street.

 

[SinisterSHO]

Good friend of mine used to be a trama nurse, one night a couple of weeks ago we were out and had some drinks, she left shortly before I did. About the time I walked in the door she had text me and said she just rode in the back of an ambulance giving a guy cpr after he had crashed on his motorcycle, only to be pronounced dead once they got to the hospital. I'm not sure how she could do that, either.

 

[FESTER665]

Holy cow dude. Who did the biker hit?

I never could understand the number of people who just feel the need to let their vehicle loose once they turn on to your street....a 25mph residential street.

I feel like an old crotchety man because I get exhausted seeing this myself...

Im right off Schaumburg Road (like 6 houses in) and people come FLYING down my street quite frequently.... Drives me nuts, and I just hope none of the kids that are two houses down are ever in the street when they do this.

 

[Primalzer]

That sucks...yeah, trauma victims are extremely hard to see....I've never seen anything that bad, thankfully. I've seen the direct aftermath of a couple horrible crashes, luckily the people involved were largely OK, with only minor to serious, but non life threatening injuries.

I agree with Kay Jay, first responders and EMT's definitely get desensitized...I know that some still have a hard time dealing with some things they see, but are largely able to deal with it better than you and I.

 

[BrianG]

"I was in the kitchen, cleaning a dish. I heard it, so I came out."

In all seriousness tho man, I hope you're alright. Don't be getting no PTSD bro.

 

[RICH17]

I hope the bikers on here see this and slow down. Your life is worth more than that.


Wear safety gear too. This guy might have lived if he had a helmet.

 

[DEEZUZ]

Loud pipes save lives

 

[Blownbyyou]

That sucks man, you never exspect/want to see that shit. I wonder how emt's/drs/nurses deal with that shit.

What did he hit?

 

[RICH17]

Loud pipes save lives

Not this time

 

[willizm]

I'm so sorry you had to do the dishes man, It's ruff and I don't wish that upon any man.

All jokes aside, I've seen quite a few dead bodies unfortunately in my life and most of them were motorcycle accidents. It's never easy and it kills the day thats for sure.

 

[Primalzer]

I hope the bikers on here see this and slow down. Your life is worth more than that.


Wear safety gear too. This guy might have lived if he had a helmet.

Ex's brother was being an idiot, hauling ass down a semi-residential road...came up to some slowed cars, couldn't swerve, dumped the bike, slid up under a car, and died of blunt force trauma. He was wearing a helmet and I believe riding gear...but it won't help against the laws of physics sometimes. If you're going fast enough or hit just right, no amount of safety gear will help.

 

[DEEZUZ]

We rolled up on a bike entangled in the cable median last month in St Louis and the dude was covered in a emt blanket. He was running from the cops in 5 o'clock traffic

 

[Chet Donnelly]

Remember when that dude last year got cut clean in half on 290 and people posted the picture on Facebook? Don't think I've ever seen such a nasty thing in my life...almost looked fake it was such a clean cut.

Girl on the back was dead too...she was a Twin Peaks waitress.

 

[DEEZUZ]

Miranda Munday

 

[Chet Donnelly]

Miranda Munday

Yeah...think her name was Miranda.

 

[DEEZUZ]

I also remember all the mis spelled remembrance pictures cause no one on ridechi can spell lol

 

[sickmint79]

can't even imagine what that must be like.

 

[Flyn]

It's unexpected, rare and emotionally tough to see a dead person.

From experience, don't 2nd guess yourself. You tried to help. That's more than a lot of people could do.

 

[cacicgtp7]

Hard to digest for sure when something like this happens in front of you. You did the right thing getting out there, don't let it shake you too much Rich.


My brother is a paramedic for Wheaton and Westmont and has all sorts of stories. When I did a ride along with him and his partner I realized how much they remove themselves emotionally from what happens on the job. They have to in order to function.

His partner told me how she was on scene for a metra suicide near wheaton a couple of years ago. They call out the paramedics or EMTs to the intial scene. Then the paramedic will call the hospital to tell them what they see so a Doctor can "officially" call time of death. She literally had to walk the tracks finding body parts of this guy and obviously up close and person with him still "kinda" attached to the under part of the train. She didn't seem phased by it at all. Same goes for when they respond to car wrecks, overdoses, ect... where the people are already gone. They just show up, check the pulse, call them deceased and move on.


Numbing, but it's going to happen to all of us. Just depends on how/when. Did he hit a parked car or something?

 

[RICH17]

This feeling isn't going away anytime soon I know.

I have been reading that his friends are saying a car pulled out in front of him. And they're blaming the driver. But it wasn't her fault. At all. And I don't know if I should correct them or not.

 

[radioguy6]

sorry to hear that man. Cant say I've seen a dead body IRL, but there are pics I've seen I wish I hadn't.

My aunt was an ER nurse for years. She told me for her it was a matter of reminding yourself its part of the job, you have to leave the shit you see behind you at the door, not talk or think about it off shift. Almost like flipping a 'switch' in the brain. Definitely not a job for everyone.

 

[Eagle]

I think you would hope a neighbor would step forward if it were you possibly being charged with vehicular manslaughter. I also imagine it won't be easy to do so, but you should probably give them your statement so at the very least they can take it into consideration.