I see dead people, do you?

I was talking with my wife about this and I figured I’d ask you folks. Be warned though, some may find this a little graphic.
Excluding funerals, how many dead people have you seen and what were the circumstances? My wife grew up in one of Detroit’s nicer suburbs; I grew up in the ghetto. She has never seen a dead body except at a funeral home. I’ve seen quite a few.
When I was about 9 or so my mom and I were heading into a Kroger in Detroit. As we were pulling into the parking lot a motorcycle was pulling out. The dude on the bike pulled into the lot, pulled out a sawed-off shotgun from his saddle-bag and shot a man. We got out of the van and the man wasn’t twitching or anything but the blood was still flowing.
Then, when I was maybe 10 or 11 a kid down the street was playing with his dad’s gun. He blew my friends chest out, I mean, his whole chest. Nasty! Saw them taking his body out with no sheet on him. Around the same year, my family was at a beach and a man drowned. They actually had all of us that were wiling join hands to walk the lake where he disappeared to find him (no divers?). I saw them pulling him out and trying CPR. No luck, already blue. Then, a few years later I witnessed the worst accident I’ve ever seen. The car that was in front of our car was hit by a truck on the wrong side of the road. Two people in the front seat were killed and the young boy in the rear seat was decapitated. There was one more that I’d rather not talk about.

So, how abnormal is this? My wife is amazed that I’ve seen so many dead people. Up until now, I’ve always thought it was normal and thought it was strange that she’d never seen one.

I can't recall any "on scene" deaths/dead bodies i've been witness to, though I can say I've accidentally been in there area when that type of thing has happened. Once was on scene with a bunch of cop cars in a rough area, driving past, turns out they'd just come upon the man that would become Minneapolis' first murder of 2010.

Seen only two.

Coming up 441 in North Carolina, just over the Georgia border. I was taking my mom to visit some family and we came upon a Ford Escort that had been hit head-on by a Dodge 3500 commercial truck. Poor driver of the escort was still strapped to what was left of the seat, but he was laying in the middle of the road, all twisted up like a ragdoll. The EMTs ran towards him, checked him, then kept running towards the car. I actually put my hand over my mom's eyes and told her to look the other way.

The other was at the Indy race here in Atlanta years ago. They had a rookie open wheel race at night and for some reason they put a chicane in the front stretch. Well, drivers just kept plowing into each other at that spot. One guy went up and over and broke his neck, DRT. Didn't find out he was a goner til the next day.

I saw one lady that if she lived it was only because when the bus hit her she was literally 50 yards from a level one trauma center's ER.

I've seen a few mostly at work.

A couple in my job supplying medical equipment to people at home. When 90% of your customers have a chronic condition that requires oxygen, etc. at home chances are you're going to come across a dead customer once or twice.

As a photojournalist I covered fire's and accidents. So seeing death sort of comes with it. The one that still gets too me is the pics I took of a firefighter carrying a ~7 year old down a ladder. The entire family made it out of the house and the kid ran back in to get the dog. I think what has kept that image in my mind for the past 15 years is the fact that I was on my way home from playing with my nephew on his 7th birthday when I heard the call on the scanner.

I've been first on the scene for a couple nasty wrecks. Worst was just getting to a guy for his last breath. I work in a cancer hospital. So we do have folks who don't make it. I've also hosted physician training programs. Part of my job was to go get the cadavers. In one of the universities, they keep them in a big tank - kinda creepy. The embalming fluid smell stays stuck in your nose for about a week. I've seen quite a few.

I've seen a few. Dang, I used to see 50 in one room about every day, plus parts of a bunch more scattered about, mostly in jars. Lots in the hospital, a few "in the wild," like the time we were driving to a little resort town about an hour from here and traffic was stopped. Got out and looked and someone was "found down." They had taken a walk from their motel room some time earlier. Probably a heart attack. The paramedics were doing CPR, didn't have him intubated, didn't really seem interested in intubating him regardless of my suggestion, etc. (Umm, AIRWAY...) Wouldn't really matter anyway. No pulse for about 3 minutes is about dead, and I'm pretty sure it took more than 3 minutes for someone to find him.

slefain wrote: The other was at the Indy race here in Atlanta years ago. They had a rookie open wheel race at night and for some reason they put a chicane in the front stretch. Well, drivers just kept plowing into each other at that spot. One guy went up and over and broke his neck, DRT. Didn't find out he was a goner til the next day.

Any more info on that incident, Brian? I ask only because I was also at that event (FF2000 cars, iirc) and don't remember any fatalaties. There's no entry at the MotorsportsMemorial website, either.

As to the original question, I found my neighbor's body three days after his apparent heart attack. Never had to get closer than ten feet away to know the reality; it took about 2 seconds. Police were already in the house as they had been called by concerned friends who were expecting him at a long-planned party event.

If one hasn't caught the smell of decomposition, hope you don't; you'll never forget it or mistake it for anything else - ever.

Watched a Corvette roadster at Moroso flip, roll bar failed, decapitated the driver. His entire family was watching. Took my daughter fishing, came across a houseboat on the intracoastal with a bloody body on the gangplank. Drug hit.

I haven't seen any, that I remember, outside of a funeral home, but what does bother me is that I have several elderly relatives (brothers and their wives to my mother) and I can see a day in a not too distant future where I will need to visit a funeral home on a near regular basis. My own mother had a close call a few weeks ago, and while my father is "the baby" in his family, he is nearly 90.

I've seen more than I wish I had. I tend to keep that E36 M3 to myself. Seeing a pile of nearly 30 cooking in the Arizona sun for a couple days (after an aviation mishap and subsequent fire) leaves an impression.

There have been others along the way too, but when I hear "dead body", my mind goes right to Arizona.

oldsaw wrote:

slefain wrote: The other was at the Indy race here in Atlanta years ago. They had a rookie open wheel race at night and for some reason they put a chicane in the front stretch. Well, drivers just kept plowing into each other at that spot. One guy went up and over and broke his neck, DRT. Didn't find out he was a goner til the next day.

Any more info on that incident, Brian? I ask only because I was also at that event (FF2000 cars, iirc) and don't remember any fatalaties. There's no entry at the MotorsportsMemorial website, either.

I'm trying to remember. It was a long time ago. It was a night exhibition race. If I recall it was a free event to come see the Indy cars test, walk around the paddock, and see a rookie open wheel race. I remember reading in the AJC that one of the drivers had died after a bad pileup, of which there were many that night. They were pretty much just racing the pit road and front stretch.

August 28, 1990, I was holding my Dad's hand when he took his last breath. Prostate cancer had its way with him. Nothing gruesome like DrBoost.

I've been to plenty (too many) funerals so I've seen a lot of dead bodies, but have only seen two people actually die in front of me. Both were older men who had massive heart attacks, and were basically gone by the time they hit the floor.

Yeah, two, both my parents, both natural causes.

Margie

Saw two getting covered with sheets on the road. About 7 middle aged guys taking a Sunday cruise on their cruiser bikes down the main road in the right lane. Lady does right on red and plows into three, killing two of them. I worked hard to convince my kids not to look, but I teared up a bit. It's not easy to see, and I didn't see much. Tough thinking those guys probably had kids like mine, albeit a bit older.

as an ex-commercial driver... far too many. Including one they tried to blame on me. I can still show you where on the highway each and every one was

Living in a big enough city with a decent crime rate and homeless rate is a bit up there. Homeless guy faced down on the side of one of the local street racing strips. (was pitching someone up who should have known better.)

One being pulled out of the express lane on I70 in a body bag.

A motorcycle accident on I70 opposing side from me. I saw the cop picking up the bike. 1/4 mile down another cop was looking at the remains with a confused look on his face. There are gangs around here that do bike stunts. He may or may not have been one of them.

A few years back I was with a police officer responding to a sick case. We revived her. She was in her 40s and looked 80's. She was in hospice care and her family decided to let her die. I can't blame them.

Wifey just saw her first j4 accident. Didn't take it well.

Commercial faital accident where I was driving and a Dodge Intrepid blew threw a stop sign and drove right into the passanger side diesel tank of my Ford F700 Box truck. He wedged me from the side and rolled me down into the opposite side ditch where I came to a rest upside down and belted in.
Lets just say that the cab-forward design of the Intrepid was not real helpful in this situation.
Eighty-something year old man from the State of Maryland with a open map on the front seat. He had moments earlier left relatives in Ohio to drive home. It was theoried that he was looking for State route 6 on the map when he missed the stop sign and drive right into me traveling on Rt 6.
Myself and my passanger escaped with not even a scratch. Truck was totaled.

You guys love your little Miatas so all I can say is be careful. Most things really will drive right over the top of you. I saw the trailer of an 18 wheeler drive over one and I have not considered buying one since.

We came upon a rolled truck in the middle of nowhere about a month ago during a navigational rally. Dead body inside, I didn't look (what would be the point)? Other than that, nothing outside funeral homes. Of course, the 30 murders we've had in Edmonton this year is the highest Canada has saw, and 90% of those are confined to drug dealing somalians

Seen a few on the side of the road. Was a CH-47 Helicopter crewmember and have done mountain rescues, usually in bodybags. Done a few military helicopter accident investigations, you never forget the smell of burned flesh. I tend to avoid looking for that stuff.

As a child visiting Vietnam, on our way to the airport at the end of our trip, passed by a motorcycle vs bicycle accident. Most ppl over there didn't wear helmets. I just remember seeing lots of blood. The "ambulance" was a wood trailer attached to a bicycle. I don't think they made it.

Saw that guy off himself on the news when I was a teenager. He stopped on an overpass, put a huge painted bedsheet or something talking about HMO's being unfair. Lit his truck on fire with him and his dog in it, then changed his mind, got out and put a shotgun in his mouth. I was watching one of the news channels that didnt pan away.

Also saw what looked like a body in the street in front of some apts a few blocks down the street from my house a few years back. It was dark, wasn't sure if it was a rug or what at first. There were ppl starting to gather. I didn't stop to investigate.

Was there when my son's grandpa was taken off support. He went from being diagnosed to passing in less than a couple months.

Nothing too gruesome or decomposed, not trying to see that either.

Nothing much. Saw my grandmother about an hour after she passed. I was at Altamont for the LeMons race where the guy had a heart attack or stroke and plowed into the wall about 50' away.

The event that sticks most in my mind, didn't see any body. I was at a fly-in pancake brunch at a small airport. Guy went to take off, but his airplane was overloaded. He couldn't get enough speed, and realized too late to stop in time. Just rolled off the edge of the runway, and flipped over the nose off the short gully at the end. No crash, but it was upside down and caught fire, with two people trapped inside. The canopy only opened by folding up. Sucked to watch because there was nothing anyone watching could do about it, and we knew the people were alive and conscious as events unfolded.

Yeah, that blows.

Like Margie, saw both my parents, both dead from natural causes. Missed being with both of them at the end by a couple hours, unfortunately.

I used to work at a notorious intersection. Got so any time we heard brake lockup, we'd already have the phone in hand and "9-1-" dialed before the impact (if there was one). I was parking after lunch one day and turned just in time to watch a motorcyclist T-bone some idiot that turned across. I don't know for certain if that was a fatal, but the poor guy did an endo right over the car - odds are strong it was.

At an airshow in the '70s with my dad, right on the flightline waiting to do our R/C model routine, and the preceeding act was a hang gliding demo back when hang gliding was pretty new. They were towing a guy to 100 ft or so altitude with a car when the line slipped on the hook or something. The kite started to oscillate pretty badly and I guess he couldn't cast off. The kite rolled upside down while the car was trying to stop and I distinctly heard the pilot say "oh, E36 M3" right before he dropped like a stone, wrapped up in the folded hang glider. DRT, though shrouded by the fabric, so I didn't see the actual body.