Our Taxes at Work

I'm not being facetious here.  This really is why we pay taxes.  Or at least some of them.  When we heard that truck hit the palm tree across the street, I made my very first call ever to 911.  They answered quickly, got the information and sent fire, rescue, ambulance and highway patrol rolling.

After changing from my jammies, I went out to see what was going on.  The woman stretched across the seat was in serious trouble.  Six or seven people were milling around her and I yeled at them not to move her.  Her boyfriend had run across the street to relieve himself and was just hobbling back when I approached the driver door.  He staret to scream her name and grab at her and I asked someone to keep him back.  He kept crying, "I'm sorry," to her.  He was hurt as well, but not seriously. I thought he might be under the influence of something, but it could have been shock as well.  The girl was flailing her arms around and moving her head.  I put my hands on either side of her head and told her to lie still, that help was on the way.  Her forhead was dented in above the left eye and bleeding.  It looked like she had broken bone pushed in there.  A man came with a dripping washcloth and wanted to put it on her, but I discouraged him . . .the washcloth was wet, but didn't appear all that clean.  Next he went to the man and talked in his ear.

"I got rid of it," he said.  I had my suspicions, but was more concerned that people not crowd the injured woman.  She was losing consciousness.  As the fireman drove up, I backed away and told the witness to hang around to talk to authorities.  Then I went back across the street for my camera.  I took a lot more pictures than these, but privacy issues prevent me from sharing them here.

As it turns out, these pictures will be used in the police investigation of the accident.  Apparently, when the man ran to the bathroom, he left some items there that could spell problems for him.  The police have picked that up and I've made a disc of pictures for them.  I will also need to give a statement to the lead officer when there is time.

Mostly, I am concerned for the young woman.  She's in pretty bad shape.  I hope the police will be able to tell me if she is alright.  I don't know about you, but these kinds of things always get to me.  After the emergency was incapable hands, I felt like crying. It hurt inside for me to look into that girl's eyes and see a vacancy there.  It hurt to know that he was probably travelling too fast on wet streets.  It hurt to know that they were probably not wearing seat belts.  I know I'm not responsible, but I feel responsible to tell people what happened and to ask that they slow down and have enough care for each other to not drive under the influence. 

I'd like to say thanks to all the firefighters, police officers, paramedics, ambulance attendants and 911 operators out there.  I'll gladly pay my taxes.  You just stay on the job!