(no subject)

[oakenguy]

So I say to Deb, as we're walking down Comm. Ave. this morning, "We should just accept that this is going to be a totally awful day and resign ourselves to it."

We take two steps. Three. And on the other side of the street there's a screeching of tires.

We look over to see a tall guy rolling to a stop in the middle of the street and picking himself up carefully. There's a dark flat object in the air above him, still in motion. It makes an arc before landing about twenty feet away. It's his hat.

He walks over to the sidewalk, flexes one leg, then the other, pats himself as if checking for cigarettes or holes. A group of people gathers around him. A woman gets out of the passenger side of the car and goes over to the guy. After a few moments she goes out into the street to gather up the guy's Discman and bring it to him. She doesn't seem to know what to do. No one does.

D wants to call 911--I, in one of those reactions I'll second-guess for weeks, say that if a call needs to be placed one of the people around the victim (the ones who actually *saw* the accident) should place it. The driver pulls off to the side, finally, and joins the knot of people. We, not knowing what else to do, continue on our way to work.


I feel very small right now, and I don't like the city very much.

Comments

[saltygoodness.livejournal.com]

In a world of cell phones, somebody will call 911 if necessary. If the guy was able to stand, he probably didn't need emergency help. I was in the same situation when I a girl get hit by a car while riding her bike. It was a low speed accident, but it was still very scary. She was very sure that she did not want us to call 911...

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I am not making any judgments about actions that were taken today, but I have to comment on these statements:

In a world of cell phones, somebody will call 911 if necessary.

You really can't count on that, actually, which is part of why one of the basics of dealing with emergency situations is assigning people specific tasks, as people tend to just assume that someone else will do it. The Kitty Genovese case is probably the most well-known example of that sort of thing, and it's local.

If the guy was able to stand, he probably didn't need emergency help.

I wouldn't assume this, either, but it's his call whether or not to accept medical help.

[saltygoodness.livejournal.com]

I'm just saying it wasn't a life or death situation...the story made it clear that there were people around, enough to help him if necessary. There's such a thing as crowding an injured or upset person. The more people that stand around, the worse it seems for the person. I was just saying that it wasn't absolute necessary to stay around...
If he had been hit, stood up, and no one stopped to help him, then that would be a different case...but he already had help, so why crowd around and look like a gawker?

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

I note, for whatever it's worth, that there are cities where a crowd doesn't gather.

One of my first experiences in Boston was, as I was driving to a job interview (!), not-quite-witnessing a bicyclist being hit by the car in front of me at the Powderhouse rotary. I realized that something had been hit, and, having vaguely recalled seeing a German Shepherd just moments before, dreaded the idea of seeing it under the tires. But then people starting running toward the accident, and I realized that none of them would be doing that for a dog, and got out of the car.

Within seconds, there was something like twenty people around the front end of this hefty car. A confused and shaken old man stepped out of the vehicle and was just sort of staring at the man under the front of his car. It took all of about ten seconds for the group to agree that the car had to come off the unconscious man on the ground, and it took them about five seconds more to pick the car up and move it back about ten feet. A woman yelled that she had called 911. A man took charge of traffic. I got back in my car and drove on, realizing that nothing of the sort would have happened in, say, Richmond. The only reason folks there might've lifted the car off the guy would have been to rifle his pockets.

It was in part this experience that made me really like Boston as a city, and reconcile myself to my move.

[fightguy.livejournal.com]

Still, at the very least, the guy was okay. Doubtless in shock, and he'll probably freak out later today. But what you witnessed is miles better than seeing a tall guy rolling to a stop in the middle of the street and lying very still...

[opheliasphoenix.livejournal.com]

I agree with the other posters, it wasn't the case scenario most people have in mind when they are in a terrifying moment where police should be called- all people were conscious and as far as you know able to speak for themselves, where is the line in speaking for other people on their behalf and for their betterment? I don't think you should feel small, though I understand the turmoil.

[qlewkr.livejournal.com]

Two police cars and a fire engine were racing to the scene a few blocks after we parted, B. Don't fret.