I was watching Live Pd along with some of the British counterpart TV shows and on occasion bystanders react to incidents or accidents to help people
who are in serious danger like helping people out of burning cars, buildings, smashed cars or maybe stopping or breaking up fights.
I've found myself in this situation 3 different times from my early 20's until early 30's with the worst while being on vacation in a Caribbean Island
country where someone (a car full of license-less native Island drivers running a red light and t-boning another car with an American tourist. I was
the first car at the intersection and saw it all unfold. The car that got hit rolled 4-5 times, and threw the driver out of the car, and rolled over
him (while he hung out the window w/ seat belt holding him in place and after the final role, he was flung from the vehicle with the car coming to
rest on it side, pinning the guy completely underneath it). The tourist driver (who had right of way) was covered in blood, groaning and crying in
pain as the car crushed him.
The 4 of us in the car were totally stunned, in shock, and I immediately got out of the car, took picks/video of the offender driver (they ended up
being very drunk, underage & had no licenses) and they ran from the scene while leaking massive amounts of coolant, water, etc as they ran from the
scene.
My uncle and I ran to the car with the hurt driver and quickly assed the situation. He was pinned between a 8-10" high curb and the side of the car,
crushing him. Others (natives of the island) came up to the car and we lifted the car off the injured person - & we rolled the car off of him while
other bystanders stood by and watched, many recording on their phones.
The Island police showed up within 30-60 seconds and an ambulance about a minute later. There are very few times I've ever been so shaky and
"unsettled" as this, the only other times were immediately before or after a street fight - where you get that fight-or-flight response, then the huge
adrenaline dump - followed by the shaky comedown and feeling of stomach pain/ feeling nauseated, and mentally thinking WTF just happened.
After giving statements to the police were were allowed to leave and I felt sick to my stomach for at least an hour, and then I was worried when I
heard the victim was alone on the island (he's from the States) and was in the ICU. That must be very scary for him and I contemplated going to the
hospital to see him and give him my contact info, but it was already 1:30am and I had to leave at 7am the next morning for my flight.
I know the police followed the trail of coolant to where the perpetrators ran to and caught all 5 of the drunk/high islanders which was a good thing.
The first time something like this happened I was a year out of college and watched a car pulled over in front of my fraternity being pulled over. He
decided to run, hit 4 cars on the way, tried to make a 90 degree right hand turn and crashed into a brick building doing about 80-90mph. Dude was
extremely drunk (.31-.35 - blood vs breathalyzer. When the car took off from in front of my house, I hoped into my car and followed to see what would
happen (Staying well back). I had to help a car of 4 students the got hit, spun around and all 4 doors were smashed with lots of fluid leaking from
under the car (we didn't know if it was gas or coolant, there was more damage to the rear wheels & gas tank area from hitting the curb & concrete
pylon). I helped pull them our of the broken windows while the 3-4 other police cars continued pursuit of the DUI/runner. I got the same feeling of
being nauseated/ really shaky, and thought I was going to throw up afterwards.
Are those normal physiological effects of high intensity encounters - probably from an adrenaline dump? Each time I got really depressed about 1 hour
afterwards, in tears after the first incident above, and lots of contemplation/re-evaluation after the second above incident.
What is odd is after the 2 fights I was in, afterwards I felt better than I had ever in my life (much like how Fight Club describes it). It was like a
high better than anything I could ever describe, even though I was slightly injured (bruised) but I had no depression, upset stomach or anything.
I'm wondering how many of you on here have ever been in any situations like this, where you had to act to help someone, possibly putting yourself in
danger at the same time. Did you have strong emotions afterwards? Depression, worry, etc? If you ever got in a fight, did you feel euphoric
afterwards (unless you got your aszz beat I guess, IDK if you get that feeling even if that happens).
I can understand how officers who are in high speed pursuit, where the fleeing person puts bystanders (and pursuing officers) in extreme danger, can
over-react once they catch up. They are fighting the biological response of the adrenaline dump, which will usually lead to pummeling the individual
(just look at mob violence/reactions). It takes a lot of self restraint to not cross the line, and sometimes the situation is so extreme that it is
basically impossible to not take it out on the person "fleeing".
Another was a hit & run where a guy hit my girlfriend's new car outside a bar & took off. 3 of us standing near by yelled at him to stop but he
floored it to get out of there. We all chased him about 1/3 mile in full spring until we caught him at a really sharp turn where he basically had to
stop to make the turn. He drug him out of the car as he tried to use his vehicle to run us over! That was the scariest incident of them all, b/c had
it only been one of us, I think he would have run the person over. Thankfully we got it under control. With age, we know better now and would leave
it to police/insurance, but at the time we were pretty upset b/c the guy had been a problem all night.
I'm interested in hearing any stories you all might have.
edit on 2 24 2019 by DigginFoTroof because: (no reason given)