Posted on Aug 18, 2014
Have you ever responded to a emergency/accident while off duty?
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While at home today I heard a loud noise. Being how I live in the sticks any loud noise is out of the norm. I looked out the window and saw a plume of dust. I couldn't see what it was from. I put on my shoes and ran out there. It turns out that they ran off the road and hit two brick pillars from someone's driveway. They were able to escape with no evident injuries. So that made my day a bit more interesting.
Have you acted when the situation called? Did your training kick in and react to what you saw or heard?
Have you acted when the situation called? Did your training kick in and react to what you saw or heard?
Posted in these groups: 
Acting
Acting
Edited 10 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 7
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Taking a little trip on 95 once.....saw a van do a flip and watched everything fly. Of cours I was behind them and stopped. Large famliy, lots of injuries. Took a deep breath, grabbed the bag in the back and waded in. Triage was painful - almost overwhelmed me til I looked up and saw about 30 people watching me triage and do my best with a family of 9. THAT'S when I took serious charge.....got 4 guys to do traffic control. Had another re-call 911 with specific instructions for life flight and set up a road block with 8 other guys so life flight could land. About 40 minutes into the situation I heard the chopper....pilot had to be ex-Navy....landed exactly where I wanted him despite the winds and power lines. Another 4 or 5 minutes and the cavalry finally showed up and some JackA$$ highway patrol walks up and starts issuing orders...til one of the guys helping me told him to go talk to me. Highway patrol kept telling me to do things that made no sense so I ignored him....until the battalion chief walked up and asked "who's in charge here?"..... I raised my hand. Bat Chief asks - "did you order life flight?" ... "Yep" I replied. "What else have you done while I was trying to get here?".....and the transfer of Incident Command commenced......
Tally: 7 injured - 2 critical. All survived. Highway 95 backup 31 miles. PO'd highway patrolman who gave me a ticket for failing to move my truck when ordered.
Tally: 7 injured - 2 critical. All survived. Highway 95 backup 31 miles. PO'd highway patrolman who gave me a ticket for failing to move my truck when ordered.
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Of course I carry my aid bag and tourniquets in all my vehicles. It seems like every time I go on leave we witness an accident. The worse I ever saw was driving from Colorado Springs to Durango when we saw a vehicle lose control and go into the river. Both passengers were ejected into the freezing water. We got them out and they both lived. I always stop because I hope someone will stop for me if even I need it.
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CPT (Join to see)
Wow, That is amazing. I have yet to see anything that horrific. Got job in acting. I will see if I can put you in for the RallyPoint civil service medal.
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SSG Robert Burns
Honestly, I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't stop. I think its just the humane thing to do.
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PO1 (Join to see)
I still keep my EMT-P current, have a whole break out kit in my truck. Like you I am always catching wrecks when ever I am on the Highway. Last one I answered was after driving for 19 hours from Texas to Jacksonville (2013), big college game was on so at that point I been up for well over 24 hours and my brother and I were heading to a sports bar to watch the game. UF vs FSU...and yes I am a total GATOR!
As we are pulling onto the highway from his house we see a group of people surrounding what looked like a bad motorcycle accident. Nobody was helping the man on the ground. My brother was like we should stop...i was like seriously i think he is dead bro...so we stop anyways, dude was still alive but in real bad shape...put it this way, agonal breaths, massive face and head injury (no helmet) folded up under a guard rail. Dude was on his way out. My brother (EMT) and I get out tell people to back off and we take charge and saved his life...i dont remember much (a little delirious) but i must have checked out and went into Paramedic/IDC mode. My brother was blown away, he hasn't seen me work in a long time. But we managed to stop the life threatening bleeding, got an airway, and started lines on him before Heavy Rescue showed up. Made their jobs easy for them. He ended up living from what i heard. We made it on time for the football game too.....Gators ended up getting their asses handed to them...but the beer/food was great! haha
As we are pulling onto the highway from his house we see a group of people surrounding what looked like a bad motorcycle accident. Nobody was helping the man on the ground. My brother was like we should stop...i was like seriously i think he is dead bro...so we stop anyways, dude was still alive but in real bad shape...put it this way, agonal breaths, massive face and head injury (no helmet) folded up under a guard rail. Dude was on his way out. My brother (EMT) and I get out tell people to back off and we take charge and saved his life...i dont remember much (a little delirious) but i must have checked out and went into Paramedic/IDC mode. My brother was blown away, he hasn't seen me work in a long time. But we managed to stop the life threatening bleeding, got an airway, and started lines on him before Heavy Rescue showed up. Made their jobs easy for them. He ended up living from what i heard. We made it on time for the football game too.....Gators ended up getting their asses handed to them...but the beer/food was great! haha
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SFC Robin Gates
After retiring my wife and I drove Tractor Trailer(Over the Road, Long Haul) for 15 years. During this time we came across a lot of accidents or people that were broke down, in the middle of no-where. Too many to keep track of but, none the less, we helped where-ever we could. One thing to note here though, just remember the Good Samartitian Laws and every time you help you put yourself, your family and your lively hood at risk. People are sue happy these days (Fast Buck Syndrome). It is a conscious decision on your part to help or not. No easy decision here!!!!!
http://recreation-law.com/2014/05/28/good-samaritan-laws-by-state/
http://recreation-law.com/2014/05/28/good-samaritan-laws-by-state/
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One time when I was off duty (as a police officer) I heard about an accident about 5 miles from my then current location in my POV, so I drove really fast to assist and a highway patrol pulled me over and wrote me a ticket...haha My training kicked in the next day when I had his supervisor in my office (at the sheriff station). Needless to say, the ticket was revoked. Thankfully nobody died at the accident.
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CPT (Join to see)
LOL. They told us that if we were in our cars we were good but if you are off, stay off. We had a cop do some work off duty and was killed a long time ago. No one knows what really happened but he was following a case while off duty. It appears they knew he was on to them and didn't like that. They got the jump on it. He never called in anything as he didn't have a radio with him and he was in his POV.
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SPC Randy Torgerson
Umm, that was extra dumb on so many levels. Working a case is a little different than being the closest guy to a car accident. But I certainly agree in the law enforcement climate today, you just don't do anything out of regulations....
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