Today is my birthday, first of all. So happy birthday to me.
I was putting my son down for a nap earlier and heard tires squealing and trees detonating in my front yard, thankfully the windows are open and it's beautiful outside.
Grabbed my shoes and walked up my driveway to see what the dealio was and saw.. well, this.
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/237016/d435ce67-acd1-44d1-80eb-f19364f4c891/image.png
Stumbled up the hill and saw how badly things looked, lots of people crowding around but nobody helping. Asked one of my neighbors if the dude in the car was okay because no one seemed to be moving towards the car and she told me "We don't know, we couldn't see in it."
Every airbag was deployed, windshield was caved in, so I couldn't see shit either.
Went to the passenger side and called out "can you hear me?"
Heard back this mousy little voice scream "Somebody please help me."
Climbed up the side of the car and looked in through the sun roof and saw this kid looking back at me
asked him his name and how old he was, name was Tyler, he was only sixteen.
How many fingers am I holding up?
Hesitated, said two, was right.
What day is today?
Couldn't answer.
He was saying the most heart breaking things, "I'm so sorry, please don't be mad at me, I'm so sorry." "Why is this happening to me?" "This just feels like a bad dream."
At this point I was just trying to keep him calm, telling him he's alright, no ones mad, it's just a car wreck, shit happens sometimes buddy.
He was bleeding him his ears and nose, his arm was bent, bruised, bleeding, obviously broken, kept saying how bad his back was hurting.
Immediately was figuring he had a spinal injury and was just telling him for the love of fuck to sit still and just take deep breaths.
I gave him my phone to call his parents just to keep him preoccupied until first responders rolled up and could actually help him. They showed up not too long afterwards.
After the dudes showed up, I backed up and started looking at the damage and realized how badly this kid should have died. The fact he was relatively okay is blowing my mind.
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/237016/d5348bc5-ab8e-461a-aefc-44f1ca3d6458/image.png
As you can see, the engine isn't there anymore.
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/237016/88d27cb7-00a8-4088-9911-687f6e881643/image.png
He was traveling south down my street, left the pavement and was going fast enough that he went at least 10 feet in the air to strike that pine tree with the bark shaved off, there. He hit it hard enough to split his car into two pieces, keep spinning, and land about 20 feet down the road facing the opposite direction. You can actually see the engine just slightly to the left of the tree there.
My phone died before I could get some photos of the firemen cutting the car apart and putting him in the ambulance to drive him away, but I'm still shaking.
Don't speed, kids. please.
Fuck. You did the right thing, good job keeping him calm.
I'm glad the kid survived that, holy fuck. I really hope he's okay. 16 is too young to go
fuck man, that's some scary shit. I'm glad the kid's okay despite everything and it was good you were there to help. good job, my guy.
Good on you for helping. Too many people get tied into watching and hoping someone else will step up. Time can be of the essence in these situations.
If you ever get updates on the kids condition, do post about it. Hopefully he’ll be okay.
Happy birthday Good on you for telling him to sit still with his back injury. Hopefully he doesn't have any long term damage. I'm confused as to how this crash happened though, he was speeding and then what? How did he get launched 10 feet into the air?
Holy fuck, how horrible. Thank you for helping him and being there for him.
"I'm so sorry, please don't be mad at me, I'm so sorry."... jees, my heart. I hope he'll be okay.
And happy birthday man.
Holy hell that was a bad one thing must of been a damn missile when it crested that hill. You did phenomenally by keeping him calm and not moving him. I worked as an EMT at a county fire protection district for a while and you'd be amazed at how many people will try to hero up and (sometimes forcefully) remove car crash patients from the vehicle.
Thank you dudes for the reassuring words, I was scared I was going to do more harm than good if I tried to intervene but I couldn't just stand around and do nothing.
I was also terrified to look into the car at first because I thought I'd look into it and just see human soup sprayed all over the interior.
Went up the hill a couple hours ago with my parents to get a better look at things, got some better photos
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/237016/ab8b9234-1900-42e6-ab27-9a1a33429bf8/image.png
Up close of the tree he hit, took out a lady's fence too.
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/237016/ada635be-6622-4146-8341-9a20fada37a5/image.png
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/237016/6d8b9519-fb41-4566-8596-97212e203e45/image.png
His parents hit me up this afternoon too, made me start crying.
Kids okay, dudes.
That's such a relief
Good to hear that your phone is the only thing that died in this story.
The silver lining is that this will be a very invaluable lesson for him.
And if he grows up and starts his own family someday, I'm sure that he will share this lesson with his kids.
Additional tidbit of info I forgot to mention.
I was on the phone with my mom an hour or two later and didn't realize I had the kids blood on my phone case from where his ears were bleeding.
Almost shit my self.
I'm gonna try and petition the city to have either a stop sign set up on my street or have a cop stationed nearby to radar people, because this has happened a half dozen times since I've lived
here, and I see people going almost triple the speed limit through here daily.
Did you ever find out how fast the kid was going? Car wrecks are terrifying.
Yet another reminder that speeding just isn't worth it.
You didn't watch a kid get fucked up. You stepped up and did everything within your ability to help and comfort a terrified and potentially badly hurt kid while everybody else stood back.
You did really good.
excellent work that you helped and reassured the kid. very human thing to do, it should be natural human instinct but in this day and age it isn't anymore.
Bystander effect is terrifying to think about if you imagine yourself being the one that needs help in a life or death situation.
Reminded me of the accident stories I read on docbastard's blog. I'm glad he's okay.
I that happens to you, single out someone in the crowd and ask for their help. This counters the bystander effect and other people will follow suit.
bystander effect is hilarious.
one time i was getting off the train that has outer doors at the station in addition to the normal ones. the outer doors didn't open and everyone started walking to the other doors.
i barged passed them all and opened the door with the handle..
i've been to concerts and had many people collapse near me with noone sure what to do.
basic first aid really must be taught in schools...
Fucking hell, it split the car in two. Severe car accidents like this are so scary with how destructive they can be
Great job OP, proud of you, happy birthday also
That kid is lucky as fuck to be alive
Hey man, good spot on the possible spinal/neck injury. That’s life saving stuff especially in car accidents.
Good that he's alive but christ some people can be really stupid. Luckily he's alive to learn from the mistake but shitloads of other people aren't.
It's such a terrible idea to speed over a blind crest and shitloads of people do it.
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