Sunday, May 6, 2012

Daredevil Good Samaritans in Grand Rapids risk lives to break out mother and child, Wealthy and Henry, by @TheWinchester

Parable_of_the_good_samaritan

I was having a casual chat with an owning partner of the soon to open
Elks Brewing Company, shooting for Fall for an opening, and she saw it
happening. I heard the crash and saw the rear view mirror fly. The car
lost control, an Oldsmobile sedan, and crashed hard into the rear of a
Jeep, parked on the south side of Wealthy. The hood crumpled, fluids
began to leak and the car began to smoke. My conversation partner
serves the community as a night shift nurse and she ran headlong to
the smoking car and look inside to assess situation. Her friend in the
business, another nurse, probably was also at the doors in the flash,
but I can't be sure. I hit my cellphone for 911 and got through,
reporting the urgency of what I saw. I thought the driver looked
unconscious and I was clear about the possibility for ignition of the
fluids. I have no time on the response because my phone doesn't store
911 calls upon its timeline. In what would stand as great response for
any city fire department and ambulance, four fire trucks arrived and
the much desired ambulance. Still, at least five to ten minutes
passed, and about twenty Rapidians didn't passively wait.

Wealthy around the Winchester is a busy street, and men tried the
doors and none would open. Men bashed on the doors with the mallet of
their fist and the glass didn't gave way. A Latin gentleman in his
forties, with slightly grey hair, brought in a crowbar and all four
passenger windows were shattered as gently as possible. Even with the
glass out of the way, the doors didn't wrench open easily. The
driver's passenger door gave way first and a woman leaned it to
evaluate the woman in the front seat, probably saved from worse
injuries when the air bag deployed. The woman had come to, and was
able to sit up so the crowd around her could see her. The second
passenger door gave way and revealed an alert but calm child with
curly hair. A woman snatched out the car seat, the car seat that had
done its job, released the stunned child, and gave her to a second
woman, who held the child close to her breast. That woman had a look
of shock and agony on her face that contrasted with the calm of the
child, unbruised and uncut.

A man from the yoga studio arrived with armload of woven rugs. A man
with a fire extinguisher arrived and monitored the situation. All
doors were pried open and some women searched the cab for baby food
and diapers and another woman leaned in to lend moral support and
assist with the driver's removal. At great danger should the car catch
fire, four women were assisting inside the cab at the same time. The
driver was walked by two men to the spread out yoga mats, where she
sat upright, dazed, shocked, but with no visible cuts or bruises. The
fire department arrived first, and the Rapidians dispersed to give
them room to work. A firefighter knelt by her side and began to ask
questions. The ambulance arrived moments later.

Instants after the crash, a blue sporty car, like a Volkswagon Jetta,
sped by, and I am uncertain on the timeline. I think I heard a voice
shout an assessment of the crashed driver as the blue sport car zipped
away. I hope I perceived this incorrectly as I couldn't believe it,
and no one was filming on a cellphone camera.

1 comment:

moncu said...

I will say that this is all correct. In addition, as one of the men helping to remove the driver. The drive door, as well as the back seat driveside door, was wedged shut from the accident. We were able to loosen the back door but not the front door. I pulled down the window slightly, as a man grabbed the top of the driver window and pulled outward toward himself allowing the window to shatter on the outside and your friend (the nurse) look at the women closer. we then attempted to force the door open but had no luck. A women, wearing work/ gardening gloves, and myself (male), jumped in the backseat and tried to find a way to get the seat to recline so that we could maneuver the women out of the car. The chair was not reclining, so I made room for another man to jump inside and help pick the women up and move her into the backseat and out of the car. I ran around to the other side door, cleared the space and selected two other males to help assist in picking her out of the backseat (those are the two who walked her to the mats).
Hope this helps to detail the aspects of the removal of the driver.