Had I known how to save a life
Ryan's grandfather passed away on Tuesday. Wednesday we went back to Fayette County where his family lives. Saturday we left early in the morning because Ryan had to be at work at 9am.
It was raining and it was dark when we left at 6am.
We got on Route 43, the turnpike.
I was sitting in the backseat with Lucy and Ryan was driving. We were in the righthand lane and went around a slight bend and all of a sudden Ryan swerved a bit and I heard him say "oh, shit!" I sort of turned and saw something in the left lane and I thought it was a dead dear or something so I didn't want to look. He was slowing the car down. I asked him if it was a deer and he said "No, No, I think it was a person!"
There was a car behind us and we pulled over, they pulled over in front of us. Ryan called 911. Lucy was sleeping and I got out of the car and ran back to the accident. It was about a quarter mile away or so. The speed limit is 65 but it's basically a raceway on the turnpike. I could see that there was a man hunched over someone trying to give CPR. I ran right up to them, thinking I could help with the CPR- maybe one of us could give mouth to mouth while the other did chest compresions. I got on my knees and saw that it was a girl and that she was dead. Parts of her brains were on the road. I tried to ask the guy if he was ok, what happened, and he just didn't answer me. He was trying to give her chest compressions and I just heard him moaning. He made eye contact with me but didn't answer me. A huge truck came through, swerving to miss us and almost crashed off the road. Off in the distance I saw a few sets of headlights, coming pretty fast at us. The guy in the car infront of us said he was going to run ahead and try to slow the cars down. I couldn't do anything because the girl was dead, obviously dead and I couldn't do anything. He kept pushing on her chest and it was just a terrible sloshing sound of her insides. Blood and bits of stuff was coming out of the side that I was on every time he pushed down. Ryan came running up to me screaming to get behind the guard rail so that I wouldn't get hit by a car. I did and Ryan went back to the car, I'm not sure what he was doing. I saw the cars getting closer and totally passed the guy in the distance. They were flying towards us and they were in both lanes. I didn't know what to do, so I ran out since I was wearing a white teeshirt, praying that they would see me. I was flailing my arms and running back and forth and they were getting really close and not slowing down at all. All I could think was I'm about to watch them get ran over again. I just screamed "NO!!!!!!!!!!" as loud as I could and both cars screetched to a halt. There were pieces of car everywhere. Their white car was sitting downward facing us (it was on a slope) in the grass between the inbound and outbound. The doors were open and the window wipers were still going.
Day was starting to break and there was no signs of ambulance or anyone. One of the people in the cars that were starting to pile up was in scrubs and said she was a nurse. She said she didn't want to touch anything becaus eshe was on her way to work. I told her that the girl was gone but I guess she didn't believe me because she went and checked for a pulse. She didn't get one. She asked the guy what happened but he didn't answer her. He had stopped trying to give her CPR and was just sobbing and moaning laying ontop of her. I guess he knew she was dead. Then she asked if someone had a rag to stop bleeding. Ryan ran back to the car and got a baby blanket and brought it back. Ryan was holding me because I was shaking. The ambulance came and Ryan took me back to the car. He had been making sure Lucy was Ok and kept checking on her. We got back in the car and drove back to Pittsburgh.
I got a text from Ryan while he was at work saying the state police called him to ask some questions and that they were going to call me. The officer called a bit later and asked some questions. He told me that both of them were deaf and he couldn't speak to me. He said the scene was pretty bad and he was sorry that I had to see it but people like Ryan and I made him get up and go to work everyday, people who try to help. He thanked me for our helping and said I saved that guy from becoming more injured and other people from being hurt or killed.
I can't stop second guessing everything, I can't stop thinking about it. I wondered if there was another car on the other side, I wondered if there were other people in the backseat or anywhere else, I was worried that maybe we left someone. I wondered how long they were there.
The news said that they were traveling northbound, the car flipped several times, and that both were ejected from the car. The girl was 24 and was pronounced dead at the scene. The guy was 28 and was flown to a hospital in Pittsburgh and was in serious condition. No names or other updates were released. They think speed was a factor.
I hope everyone who reads this wears their seatbelts every time from now on.
It was raining and it was dark when we left at 6am.
We got on Route 43, the turnpike.
I was sitting in the backseat with Lucy and Ryan was driving. We were in the righthand lane and went around a slight bend and all of a sudden Ryan swerved a bit and I heard him say "oh, shit!" I sort of turned and saw something in the left lane and I thought it was a dead dear or something so I didn't want to look. He was slowing the car down. I asked him if it was a deer and he said "No, No, I think it was a person!"
There was a car behind us and we pulled over, they pulled over in front of us. Ryan called 911. Lucy was sleeping and I got out of the car and ran back to the accident. It was about a quarter mile away or so. The speed limit is 65 but it's basically a raceway on the turnpike. I could see that there was a man hunched over someone trying to give CPR. I ran right up to them, thinking I could help with the CPR- maybe one of us could give mouth to mouth while the other did chest compresions. I got on my knees and saw that it was a girl and that she was dead. Parts of her brains were on the road. I tried to ask the guy if he was ok, what happened, and he just didn't answer me. He was trying to give her chest compressions and I just heard him moaning. He made eye contact with me but didn't answer me. A huge truck came through, swerving to miss us and almost crashed off the road. Off in the distance I saw a few sets of headlights, coming pretty fast at us. The guy in the car infront of us said he was going to run ahead and try to slow the cars down. I couldn't do anything because the girl was dead, obviously dead and I couldn't do anything. He kept pushing on her chest and it was just a terrible sloshing sound of her insides. Blood and bits of stuff was coming out of the side that I was on every time he pushed down. Ryan came running up to me screaming to get behind the guard rail so that I wouldn't get hit by a car. I did and Ryan went back to the car, I'm not sure what he was doing. I saw the cars getting closer and totally passed the guy in the distance. They were flying towards us and they were in both lanes. I didn't know what to do, so I ran out since I was wearing a white teeshirt, praying that they would see me. I was flailing my arms and running back and forth and they were getting really close and not slowing down at all. All I could think was I'm about to watch them get ran over again. I just screamed "NO!!!!!!!!!!" as loud as I could and both cars screetched to a halt. There were pieces of car everywhere. Their white car was sitting downward facing us (it was on a slope) in the grass between the inbound and outbound. The doors were open and the window wipers were still going.
Day was starting to break and there was no signs of ambulance or anyone. One of the people in the cars that were starting to pile up was in scrubs and said she was a nurse. She said she didn't want to touch anything becaus eshe was on her way to work. I told her that the girl was gone but I guess she didn't believe me because she went and checked for a pulse. She didn't get one. She asked the guy what happened but he didn't answer her. He had stopped trying to give her CPR and was just sobbing and moaning laying ontop of her. I guess he knew she was dead. Then she asked if someone had a rag to stop bleeding. Ryan ran back to the car and got a baby blanket and brought it back. Ryan was holding me because I was shaking. The ambulance came and Ryan took me back to the car. He had been making sure Lucy was Ok and kept checking on her. We got back in the car and drove back to Pittsburgh.
I got a text from Ryan while he was at work saying the state police called him to ask some questions and that they were going to call me. The officer called a bit later and asked some questions. He told me that both of them were deaf and he couldn't speak to me. He said the scene was pretty bad and he was sorry that I had to see it but people like Ryan and I made him get up and go to work everyday, people who try to help. He thanked me for our helping and said I saved that guy from becoming more injured and other people from being hurt or killed.
I can't stop second guessing everything, I can't stop thinking about it. I wondered if there was another car on the other side, I wondered if there were other people in the backseat or anywhere else, I was worried that maybe we left someone. I wondered how long they were there.
The news said that they were traveling northbound, the car flipped several times, and that both were ejected from the car. The girl was 24 and was pronounced dead at the scene. The guy was 28 and was flown to a hospital in Pittsburgh and was in serious condition. No names or other updates were released. They think speed was a factor.
I hope everyone who reads this wears their seatbelts every time from now on.