it ain't the bullet, it's the hole

[topaz]

On Friday night I left work to meet keyne at Sei Bar in Medford.  I was on my way up Main St. at about 6:45pm when I noticed that there was a pickup truck in the middle of the intersection.  Then I noticed there was a mangled dirt bike lying in the street behind it.  There were also a lot of people shouting and yelling things at each other, and a man was kneeling in the middle of the street, cradling a boy around twelve years old in his arms.  The boy was conscious, and crying.

Someone yelled please, could someone call 911?  I did, and was told that Medford police had been advised.  Someone figured out that it would be a good idea to move the truck so people could get past it.  The driver ran to his truck to move it (someone screamed, "Don't let him get away!").

I stood around for a few more minutes, gawking, trying to figure out something else constructive I could do.  It occurred to me that it would be helpful for someone to direct traffic, but I wasn't sure of a safe way to do that with the injured party still in the middle of the street.  In a few minutes an ambulance arrived, with two cruisers and two fire engines (!) so I decided it was safe for me to leave.

After meeting keyne for dinner, I had to go back up the street to see what happened.  The police were still there.  Some officers were talking to people, and at least a couple appeared to be collecting evidence from the street.

I hate not knowing what to do.  It makes me feel a lot better about the kids' bike safety training that I took for MassBike last month.  But I would have given anything at that instant to have had first aid training.  And I have to say, being the parent of an active nine-year-old boy, that watching a scene like that unfold fills my gut with icy, sour terror.

I don't know what happened to the boy.  I called the Medford PD a few minutes ago.  The desk sergeant I talked to confirmed that he can't tell me anything about the victims of an accident.

I don't know what happened to the boy.

Comments

[catya.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

If the boy was conscious and crying, he was relatively ok. :-/

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I'm counting on, that was probably a good sign overall. Still.

[vasilatos]

Ah. From experience, I can say that completely aside from first-aid training, what you want to do in an emergency is ID the victim, remain calm, and TAKE THEIR PULSE. It's not hard and it forces them - and you - to settle down.

Seems a little over-simple, but as a single thing to do, it's excellent.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Oh, what an excellent idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

I would need a watch, but at this point I kinda need one anyway.

[sconstant.livejournal.com]

I would worry that if I went in and didn't look like I knew what I was doing, I'd panic everyone, and that if I went in and did, someone who might otherwise be helpful would assume that I knew what I was doing. But this may just be a justification for not doing anything, and apathy doesn't need any more champions.

[vasilatos]

There's always yelling "911" and getting out of the way. Totally good.

Dispatch centers are having some overload issues with too many calls because people have cellphones, and I don't know what to make of that. We'll have to wait for what emergency responders recommend as they adapt.

[blk]

Ugh. That's stressful just to read about.

[dbang.livejournal.com]

"atching a scene like that unfold fills my gut with icy, sour terror"

Yeah. That.

[beah.livejournal.com]

At Erev Rosh Hashanah services last week, someone near the back of the sanctuary keeled over unconscious and smacked his head open on the floor. I'm sure there were 50 doctors in the congregation, and a whole pile of people ran over to help him. I still felt like I should go over and try to do something, despite the fact that I had nothing to contribute and everything was being done. It's a horrible feeling, but I think nonetheless that it's still best to just stay out of the way in situations like that.

Sorry you had to witness such a troubling scene.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

This might help, though it's only updated once a week:

http://www.townonline.com/medford/police_and_fire