Life in a Tent: What a Harrowing Day

Well, yesterday was certainly an eventful, harrowing day for Bill and I. After finishing up at the library, we decided to drive over to Columbus to check out an efficiency apartment we had seen in the newspaper. We were leery of it, as it is in a hotel, and many of those places are hooker havens or crack central, if you know what I mean.

We were extremely pleased to see that the place was a renovated Red Roof Inn, with clean, although small rooms, complete with stove, fridge, TV. We reserved a room for next week, on the spot.

After we left the hotel, was when the day took a tragic turn. We were driving around the outerbelt, when suddenly I noticed sparks flying, and debris flying all over the road. Luckily, Bill noticed even before I did, and did a great job maneuvering to the left, avoiding the flying metal.

Bill pulled the car over directly behind the accident, which involved a silver, brand new Mustang, and a semi. I flew from our car, racing up to the Mustang, which was wedged under the truck. It was mangled beyond belief. Bill called 911, as I ran up to the car, another man flew by me, and I noticed the logo of Columbus Fire and Rescue on his shirt sleeve. He arrived to the car before I did, and pried open the driver’s side door, where a young man sat unconscious at the wheel. I rounded to the passenger door while yet another man yanked it open.

The EMT (he was, after all), screamed for a knife, and luckily, Bill had his trusty pocket knife in his pocket, which the EMT used to cut through the seat belt, freeing the unconscious kid, somewhat. It was impossible to free him from the vehicle. The EMT climbed into the back seat to hold the driver's head back, and keep him from slumping forward, while I read off the information from the car’s registration which I had pulled from the glove box. I sobbed when I read his name, “Bruce”, the name of my dear deceased brother.

The young man didn’t regain consciousness, and even today, we’re unsure if he lived or died. It appeared to me that he had a head injury, and both arms were broken. He most likely had some chest damage, as the airbag didn’t deploy, as it was a side impact, not head on.

Police, and Fire and Rescue vehicles arrived within 3-4 minutes, The EMT stayed in the backseat holding Bruce’s body from slumping forward, until the rescue team took over. We could do nothing but watch and wait while the EMTs used the jaws of life, a “sawz-all” and a lot of muscle to free that poor kid from the wreckage.

It took them almost an hour to free him, and never did he move a muscle. While waiting and talking to the other witnesses, we all feared that the kid may have been a soldier. He had ARMY seat covers on the Mustang, and the registration stated it had only been bought in September, only a month before.

We contemplated all night of the horror his family must be feeling, especially if it does turn out that he was a soldier, perhaps recently returning from Iraq or Afghanistan.

Bill had to give the police a written statement as to what he saw, but I didn’t as I only saw the debris and sparks flying, after the fact.

Apparently, the kid was coming onto the freeway, around a curve(it is speculated that he took the curve too fast), and his car fishtailed. The other witnesses said it seemed as if he had righted the car, when it slid again, and went under the semi, where it was wedged just in front of the back set of tires.

We had to stay at the scene for over an hour until the police had gotten Bill’s statement, but according to the radio, the freeway was closed for several hours after that. I know it would take a lot of work to get the car from under the truck.

Bill and I were both very shaken last night, thankful we were not physically involved, and extremely thankful that the semi driver had the skill to maintain control of his truck as well as he did, which undoubtedly saved several lives, including ours.

Today, we are both giving thanks that we will be moving indoors next week, as well as thankful for our own safety.

We have not heard anything on the news about it today, as there was a motel shooting taking up most of the air time, so say a prayer for that kid, will you?

Bill's Spirit posted an article similar to mine, but his has a couple photos.