I swear that my heart stopped. Honestly. And this guy is a HERO.
Okay. So, today I had work, followed by Gina's baby shower, which had food and was actually pretty fun. Then I was supposed to go watch Domino with Robert and Courtney, but when I tried to buy their tickets, the girl refused to sell me the other two without Robert and Courtney showing ID that they're over 17. Which is ridiculous, but whatever. Long story short, we left, and didn't know what to do, so decided we were hungry and headed towards McDonalds. Decided we wanted Cheddar's (SP?) instead, and headed that way. And I'm so glad that we did.
Okay. Konnie and Jes are the only ones who will probably know what I'm talking about with this, but here we go... I'd gone down Taft and taken a left at the second stoplight at the end, to go towards the restaurant. We were about halfway, maybe 2/3 of the way there, and stopped at a stoplight. I looked over to someone stumbling in a parking lot, and saw this teenage girl stumble from the curb and into the street, and then JUST LAY THERE. IN THE STREET. In an offramp, to be exact. So I rolled down the passenger side window and had Courtney ask the girl if she was okay. The girl told us to f' off, then yelled that no, she wasn't okay. She stood back up, stumbled a step or two, and fell back down. The light was green by this point, but we weren't going anywhere as far as I was concerned. Courtney got out of the car and went to help the girl. The people behind us stopped their car and put on their hazard lights, then got out to help, and some people in the parking lot the girl was originally in stopped and got out too, so I parked the car in the street/lane and left Robert to watch it, then got out to help the girl out of the street myself. And SHE TOOK OFF RUNNING INTO TRAFFIC.
This guy came running from I still don't know where, more or less tackled her, and dragged her back to the little offramp and onto the sidewalk, where he made her lay down. Several people had called an ambulance, and someone (I still don't know who, but I bless them) noticed a cop car passing by, and waved them down (the cop was three lanes away, about to turn left and away from us), and we all started yelling "Police!" and "Help!" and "She needs an ambulance!" Before the cop could get over to us, the girl jumped up and took off running into traffic again. We stopped her, and I helped a guy hold her down--she was kicking and punching at us, and screaming that she just wanted to die, and that we needed to let her go--but we ignored her, of course, and just kept her pinned there. The cop came over, and called for backup. Fortunately there were two other cars very close by already, so they headed over and would get there a few minutes later.
We were all telling the cop what we'd seen, and realized that none of us knew this girl. This means that the guy ran into oncoming traffic--the cars had room to stop, but one was going pretty fast (they speed a lot there, I've noticed) and he COULD have been hit--to save a complete stranger. He is my hero. I went after her too, but he was way faster, and stronger, and I know for a fact that he saved her life. Yes, if Courtney and I hadn't asked if she was okay, and if Courtney hadn't gotten out of the car to try and check on the girl, she would have ran into traffic before the guy could have gotten over there to begin with... But he still was the only one of us--and there were like, 10 people--who had the immediate presence of mind to run out and stop the girl from killing herself.
It was the scariest thing I have EVER experienced, and I hope the girl is okay. She seemed to be seriously high on something--drugs of some sort, I honestly think--and... She needs some help. Like maybe councelling help. I hope she's fine.
Anyways, I intend to write a letter to that guy thanking him, and sending it to the local newspaper to see if they'll publish it. Would that go to the editorial section, Konnie?
Alright. I just got home a few minutes ago--right before I started typing this entry--and I am exhausted like woah. Time for me to go to bed, and I apologize for any and all mistakes made in this entry.
Okay. Konnie and Jes are the only ones who will probably know what I'm talking about with this, but here we go... I'd gone down Taft and taken a left at the second stoplight at the end, to go towards the restaurant. We were about halfway, maybe 2/3 of the way there, and stopped at a stoplight. I looked over to someone stumbling in a parking lot, and saw this teenage girl stumble from the curb and into the street, and then JUST LAY THERE. IN THE STREET. In an offramp, to be exact. So I rolled down the passenger side window and had Courtney ask the girl if she was okay. The girl told us to f' off, then yelled that no, she wasn't okay. She stood back up, stumbled a step or two, and fell back down. The light was green by this point, but we weren't going anywhere as far as I was concerned. Courtney got out of the car and went to help the girl. The people behind us stopped their car and put on their hazard lights, then got out to help, and some people in the parking lot the girl was originally in stopped and got out too, so I parked the car in the street/lane and left Robert to watch it, then got out to help the girl out of the street myself. And SHE TOOK OFF RUNNING INTO TRAFFIC.
This guy came running from I still don't know where, more or less tackled her, and dragged her back to the little offramp and onto the sidewalk, where he made her lay down. Several people had called an ambulance, and someone (I still don't know who, but I bless them) noticed a cop car passing by, and waved them down (the cop was three lanes away, about to turn left and away from us), and we all started yelling "Police!" and "Help!" and "She needs an ambulance!" Before the cop could get over to us, the girl jumped up and took off running into traffic again. We stopped her, and I helped a guy hold her down--she was kicking and punching at us, and screaming that she just wanted to die, and that we needed to let her go--but we ignored her, of course, and just kept her pinned there. The cop came over, and called for backup. Fortunately there were two other cars very close by already, so they headed over and would get there a few minutes later.
We were all telling the cop what we'd seen, and realized that none of us knew this girl. This means that the guy ran into oncoming traffic--the cars had room to stop, but one was going pretty fast (they speed a lot there, I've noticed) and he COULD have been hit--to save a complete stranger. He is my hero. I went after her too, but he was way faster, and stronger, and I know for a fact that he saved her life. Yes, if Courtney and I hadn't asked if she was okay, and if Courtney hadn't gotten out of the car to try and check on the girl, she would have ran into traffic before the guy could have gotten over there to begin with... But he still was the only one of us--and there were like, 10 people--who had the immediate presence of mind to run out and stop the girl from killing herself.
It was the scariest thing I have EVER experienced, and I hope the girl is okay. She seemed to be seriously high on something--drugs of some sort, I honestly think--and... She needs some help. Like maybe councelling help. I hope she's fine.
Anyways, I intend to write a letter to that guy thanking him, and sending it to the local newspaper to see if they'll publish it. Would that go to the editorial section, Konnie?
Alright. I just got home a few minutes ago--right before I started typing this entry--and I am exhausted like woah. Time for me to go to bed, and I apologize for any and all mistakes made in this entry.