As I was driving down I-275 west on my way home from work today, I noticed something weird in the corner of my eye. It was white, and it was moving … right on the edge of the woods. I slowed down a bit to try to get a better look, when I suddenly saw something surprising.
It was an arm.
I quickly pulled off to the side of the road and put my hazard lights on, backing up until I got to the spot where I had seen it … and sure enough, there was a man crawling out of the woods, desperately waving his hand in hopes of getting someone’s attention.
I stopped my car and ran across the I-75 north exit ramp, where the picture became clearer. The man was on all fours with his head hanging to the ground, and behind him, in the trees, sat a totally smashed car. This older businessman, dressed in a white shirt with nice black pants and shoes with blood splatters here and there, had driven straight off of the road and crashed at highway speeds (there were no skid marks anywhere) into the edge of the woods.
I ran to him and asked him to lie face-down in the grass, then dialed 911. I then sat down in front of his head, holding his neck to try to stabilize his spine. As I was explaining our location to the dispatcher, a couple more cars stopped by, and we were able to ascertain that he had been traveling alone and that he had severe pain in his neck and back. One woman was an x-ray technician who thought to get his wallet and ask him about family … he had none, aside from his wife, who was in a hospital far away. Another woman who stopped had seen the accident … she reported that he had been run off of the highway by a semi-truck.
Thankfully, after a few minutes, the police and ambulance arrived, and we handed off the situation to the professionals. They put his neck in a brace, rolled him onto a stretcher, then asked us a few questions before carting him off to the hospital. And that was it.
So if you can, pray for John tonight. He is probably alone.
