"Greyhound versus pedestrian..."

At around 1:am the pager went off with a traffic crash for our department. When I heard the words "Greyhound versus pedestrian" I almost didn't go. What would I find upon arrival? No way this call was going to be easy.

I took off in Rescue One to check things out and call back to arriving units with a size up. I was first on scene and the picture was not good. A body in the middle of the road and a Greyhound bus parked a few hundred feet away with the flashers on. This section of highway thankfully has very little traffic at this hour. As I approached the body there seemed to be something missing, his head. My God! It was like a scene from a war zone.

A bit bewildered as to what to do the reassuring voice of my ambulance chief, Frankie,arriving on scene put me at ease. As other personnel arrived to the scene we began to find bits and pieces scattered for some distance down the highway. It was a grizzly scene and most of us felt a bit queasy as it sank in. The bus driver was a wreck as he recanted what he had seen. The first state trooper to arrive was as lost as the rest of us as to what to do. One of his fellow troopers arrived and took command of the scene and the first trooper felt as I did when my senior crew member arrived.

As the troopers took down statements from the bus driver and one passenger, we carefully led the few vehicles that passed that way through the scene. I had not let it bother me much until Frankie asked me to check under the bus to see if there was anything that we needed to remove. You want to check for body parts where?! As My flashlight lit up the underside of the bus I saw impact points....

Suddenly the magnitude of what had happened to this unfortunate soul hit home. I was pleased to report that there was nothing to remove and made my way back to my vehicle. The body had been covered with one of our disposable yellow blankets so that part was easier to deal with. We needed an ID on our victim so Frankie asked one of the EMTs to help her. It wasn't until later that I realized just how that affected him.

After several hours we were able to clear the scene and return to quarters. Most of us went next door to the bakery to get coffee and something to drink. Coy, who had helped Frankie get the victims wallet, sat down at the table in the corner. His face was as white as a sheet. I believe he too had wished he had not gone on this call. The baker asked what had happened. One of the EMTs told him that a pedestrian had been struck by a bus. When the EMT explained the guy had been on his hands and knees in the travel lane, the baker remarked "I guess he wanted to be sure he didn't miss the bus". The EMT broke out in laughter and quickly made her way outside the door to where I was. "God, I feel so embarrassed!" she said. "Don't be", I said. "That is your defense mechanism kicking in. That was not a pretty sight and laugh or not, you are protecting yourself from letting it get to you".

A debriefing meeting was held within a week and each told of what they saw and how it made them feel. Many things that I had blocked out were relived and the incident seemed more gruesome than what I had originally perceived. It seems that my defense mechanism against the horror of that scene worked quite well, enabling me to deal with what needed to be done.

None of the younger crew members including myself had seen anything that graphic before at an accident scene. We hoped that we never would again.

As for me, there was another that would be just as bad, ten days later.

Rescue Dog