topaz: (madblog)
Tim Pierce ([personal profile] topaz) wrote2007-09-17 05:18 pm
Entry tags:

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

On Friday night I left work to meet [livejournal.com profile] 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 [livejournal.com profile] 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.
ext_86356: (Quinn - in arms)

[identity profile] qwrrty.livejournal.com 2007-09-17 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, that's what I'm counting on, that was probably a good sign overall. Still.