The Writing On The Road

My job has its ups and downs. One of the downs is that I have to go to just about any tradegy that happens on my shift. One of those happens to be an AutoPed - a car verses a pedestrain accident.

The pedestrain never wins.

I was sent out to one on East Lake Mead Parkway in the northeast corner of the valley. A kid, about 15 tried to run across the street outside of the crosswalk in the dark and was hit by a car doing about 40 MPH.

He did not die on the scene and was taken to the hospital. However it was very likely that he was going to die so METRO called out their fatal detail.

What they do is reconstruction, taking measurements and whatnot, in order to deteremin if there are any criminal charges to be filed in a fatal or potentially fatal crash.

As a side note, I have seen some pretty disturbing things. This PD does NOT cover bodies (for the CSI investigation I guess). I have seen more dead people since moving here than I had in my entire life before I moved here.

Anymore it doesn't really disturb me. I feel sadness for those who have died, but the sight of a dead body no longer bothers me.

However there are other things that do.

In the course of their investigation METRO's Fatal Team makes markings on the roads. Like where the cars are, tread markings, ect. In this case, they made this marking:



That says "BOY SCUFF". As in a scuff mark on the road from where the kid bounced after being hit by the car.

That sent a shudder down my spine. Just thinking of what this poor kid must have went through after being hit by that car. The fact that he was hit hard enough to not only be thrown far enough to bounce, but to have hit the ground hard enough to make a scuff mark.

You try not to forget that these are people involved, but when you see it as much as someone like me does, you try and distance yourself from it. That's why you sometimes see cops joking around at scenes like this. You have to in order for it not to get to you so bad that you snap.

I was doing a good job at that till I saw the traffic guy write that on the street. Even still it makes me pause for a moment just looking at the picture.

Someone will be wondering why I posted it then. Why would I talk about it? Because I want people to see what I do whether it be fun, boring or sad. I constantly wonder if it's worth it. But as I tell people, by broadcasting this accident maybe someone will see that it's NOT a good idea to cross a major street outside of the crosswalk and at least one needless death will be prevented.

I might just be dreaming, though.