Humans

This post is just me venting. I'm disturbed by humans and how crass we can be. Let me explain: On Saturday evening I got called out for an accident on I17. It was at mile post 306, right at Stoneman Lake exit. The accident happened at about 5 or so in the evening and by the time I got there it was nearing 6. A Dodge pickup truck was sitting perpendicular to the road with the rear bumper sitting on the guardrail. The truck had been traveling north, towing an empty tow dolly. It crossed the median, ending up in the southbound lane. When I went to assess the damage to the guardrail I also looked at the truck. The front end was smashed and the driver's door was gone. I looked around and saw the door laying under the guardrail on the other side of the road. Then I realized that there was a body under the guardrail as well. Not the kind of thing I need to see but it's part of the job. The clean up of the accident took a long time. Whenever there is a death on the highway the police officers must treat the scene as a crime scene. That means that they measure tire tracks, survey debris, etc. It takes forever. When they were through I went to ask if there was an ETA on the medical examiner. The officer told me that there had been a mix up with communication and that it could be a bit longer. Finally, around 11:30 the examiner's van showed up. Two guys got out, grabbed the guy by the hands, pulled him from under the guardrail and unceremoniously plopped him on a gurney. In the act of pulling him from the guardrail the victim's pants were pulled partially off. There was no effort made to adjust the pants or reposition his shirt. In short dignity was not part of what they did. Dignity in death. Gosh, we all hope for that. I'll warn you; there's no dignity in death if you die on the side of the road and the coroner comes to get you. This guy had been under the guardrail for at least 6 hours and then thrown on a gurney by guys who didn't seem to have any respect. If the victim's loved ones knew of the apparent disrespect I think they would be mortified.

Ok, I'm through and I promise to avoid being maudlin in the future.