Have you ever seen a dead person?

[skittledoo]

I'm talking about outside of a viewing ceremony at a funeral...

I've seen three and unfortunately all of them were extremely tragic.

1. When I was in 5th grade we found a dead guy at my elementary school. He was a high school aged guy and he was lying on the slide on the playground with a bullet hole through his head. I think they eventually ruled it a suicide, but I was a young 5th grader who was traumatized by it since I saw him close up, before officials were notified. I ended up having to see a therapist that they brought to the school for us kids who had seen the body and those others who hadn't and were still shaken up about it. They ended up taking the slide out of the playground and they still to this day have not replaced it.

2. When I was about 13 or 14 my sister, dad and I were at a gas station. There was a restaurant right by the gas station. A family walked out of the restaurant and headed towards their car in the parking lot. Their 5 year old son broke free of his mom's grasp and took off running. He ran right into the middle of the road with his parents chasing after him trying to catch him. We witnessed a car slam into him killing him instantly. The driver of the vehicle freaked out and took off and later turned herself in. We had to stay so that my dad could talk to police and give a report.

3. The last one was just last winter when I was still living in Virginia. It was the day we got the first big winter snowstorm (Dec 19 I believe) that resulted in about 4 feet of snow. I was working as a dog walker in Sterling, VA and had just finished walking my last dog and was on my way home. The roads were slippery and icey. I took a turn onto a back street to try and get home faster before it started snowing because I'm terrified to drive in snow. I noticed a car accident and there was no police on the scene so naturally I stopped. There were two vehicles slammed into each other, but everyone seemed to be ok. The third vehicle was an suv that was upside down in a ditch and a man (the driver of that vehicle) was in the middle of the road bleeding. I ran over to check on him. He had hit his head and had a gash with a lot of blood. His body looked twisted up and bad, but I felt around trying to find a pulse. There was none. By that time someone else had also stopped at the scene and they were on the phone with a dispatcher. I stayed until the police arrived and had to give a report and then drove home shaking like crazy.

 

[Laurelin]

Yeah. We saw a high school student dumping his stepmom's body on the side of the road a couple years ago. It was one of those really freaky things... apparently they got in an argument and he shot her. Then he drove out and dumped her on the road leading to the mall... The police got him right away though.

I've found guys laying on the side of the road twice and thought they were dead too. Both times it turned out to be someone who was completely high on some sort of drugs.

Luckily the accidents I've witnessed, the people have been okay. The worst was a motorcycle accident I saw three years ago. I stayed with the guy until the paramedics and police came. He was bleeding but responsive and was okay afterwards (broken bones and such though).

 

[Linds]

Just my grandmother who died in our living room when she was hospice. The coroner got lost though so she was sitting there for a good long time. But nothing as traumatic as you guys

 

[Fran101]

Once.. some guys on motorcycles were driving around on the highway in Miami. (some of them started messsing around, buzzing around cars, wheelies, etc..)
and one of them got hit. It happened so fast the driver couldn't do much, the speed limit on the highway is 80..

Everyone around stopped, some guy was a doctor and ran to the scene to help but it was obvious the bike rider was dead. It was a big accident and he wasn't wearing a helmet.

I got out of the car but only saw the body for a second.. my boyfriend pulled me back. He said it was pretty bad.. it had to have been because he was shaking.

The police came and we all gave statements, the driver felt horrible and was shaking and crying.
I was in shock, the police couldn't find out who the guy on the bike was. They finally found his cell phone and it turns out the rider was only 17 they called his parents.. and I left after I gave my statement

 

[Dizzy]

Nope.... But I have heard some crazy stories from the OH....!

 

[*Amy*]

Wow, you've witnessed a lot of sad things! Especially the boy getting hit by a car. That is just tragic- I'm not sure I could ever get that picture out of my head.

I've never seen anyone dead or dying. I have no idea what it would feel like except for plain old rotten.

Edit- Actually, I did almost witness someone dying when I was working in a hospital. This very old man in bad shape was going into cardiac arrest and we had just taken a chest x-ray of him and I remember thinking, "whoa.. we were just in there and he was fine." They got his heart rate going again, but it was a crazy moment seeing everyone in panic mode.

 

[-bogart-]

I have seen a few.
3 different bodies pulled from the river here. suicide jumpers off the Huey p. long bridge. ( sucks for us as both our fleets are positioned beneath bridges that are used to jump from)
My granny dead in her chair before the coroner got there to declare her dead and the funeral home pick her up.
i was riding with my dad one time (he was a tow truck driver at the time) He was called on a Hwy. Patrol scene and a motorcyclist had lost control of his crotch rocket and slammed into a light pole. He was sliced in half with part of his body on one side of the road and the other half of him on the other.

 

[Romy]

That's so sad, Skittle I can't even imagine witnessing those kinds of things.

I used to work in a hospice. When the residents died us lowly NAs got the lovely job of cleaning up their bodies. I had to quit because of it. If they were strangers it would have been easier to maintain distance, but they were friends. It pretty much crushed any desire for a career in forensics.

 

[JessLough]

I was the one who knew when my Nanny died, and who told everybody else in the room that we need to get a doctor in there.

I was with my uncle once, at the scene of an accident... the guy died in his lap.

 

[MyHorseMyRules]

I'm in Search and Recovery... So, yes. Quite a few.

 

[ACooper]

No I have not, and honestly, I hope I never do.

I've driven by hideous, fresh car accidents before the ambulance has arrived and seen (what you want to believe are) injured people. Just last weekend Kevin and I witnessed a red SUV hit the curb of the off ramp, flip, and land upside down. The driver was obviously unconscious and laying out of his seat on the roof of the vehicle. Two cars pulled in to offer assistance and make calls so we didn't feel the need to pull in.......felt like it would be gawking more than helping. I can find no information in the paper or online about the accident, so I have no idea if the man is dead or alive

 

[oakash]

No, and I am so thankful for that! I don't think I could handle it, dead animals make me cry and cringe and I can't get it out of my head for days.

 

[*blackrose]

Nope, I haven't, thankfully! Hopefully it will stay that way.

My mom and brother did, though. They were driving by a cornfield and it was swarming with cops. As they went by they drug out a body of a missing person that hadn't been seen in days.

I've never even witnessed a car wreck or some such. It is like I'm either not looking when it happens, just pass by before it happens, or arrive after the fact. And I am definitally not complaining about that, either.

 

[JennSLK]

As a Medic and a volunteer for SAR I have lots of times. Ive witnessed 3 autopsies too, great way to learn about anatomy.

 

[Renee750il]

I've accompanied my mom to help her with patients when she was doing hospice nursing and have been there when a couple passed. It is, in every sense of the word, a holy experience.

When I was a kid we were coming home from Oakland and got stalled at the scene of a fresh wreck -- an entire family in a station wagon rammed into the concrete divider head on. No survivors. The paramedics got there while we were there and were trying to recover the remains from the vehicle.

 

[Amber]

The only thing close enough that I've seen was once whenwe were driving down the highway and a car that was driving about 5 cars ahead of us out of nowhere caught flame. All of traffic going that direction had to stop and wait for the firefighters to put it out and move it out of the way, but by the time they did there wasn't much left of anything...

 

[mrose_s]

No I havn't. I can't imagine how traumatising that must have been.
4 years ago there was a really bad car accident locally. It was the day of grade 12 graduation, there was a party on and some kids decided to go get more alcohol or whatever, they were going to fast and hit a tree not far from the party.
It killed an 18 year old, a 19 year old, a 15 year old and left another 15 year old really injured.
They were close to the party still so they ended up with a heap of young kids being there first and seeing it all. I can't imagine that. There is still tributes to them everywhere, RIP's ont eh back of people's cars and other stuff.

 

[Xandra]

Wow Skittle you've had a really rough go of it

I saw one guy. My brother was driving me to work along Oak street and we couldn't figure out why traffic suddenly slowed down. We passed this accident where a car had turned left and hit a motorcycle... the guy had was dead in the lane beside us, torn in two pieces at the waist, innards spilled out and he was facing us, it was pretty bad. I think he hit a light post coming off the motorcycle.

Poor guy, he was young too, I hope he died instantaneously.

 

[wcladymacbeth]

I've seen lots of dead people of all ages when I worked in the ER. I have never seen anyone dead in a car accident at the scene or anything like that though. It's different when it's in the medical setting... you never get used to it, but it's just part of your job.

Motorcycles scare the crap out of me. Even more now. Split in 2?! gross.

 

[filarotten]

Back in 1981 there was a greyhound bus wreck in Lousiana on I 10 between Batonrouge and New Orleans, I lived in LaPlace at the time. As we got up to the wreck you could see bodies lined up next to the bus. None of them were covered up. It was probably one of the most distrubing sites I have ever seen. I cried all the way home that night.