A gory scene awaited me in a day I woke up feeling really great. The sun was shining bright in the morning; sun bathing was becoming a norm for me to find my inner peace. The events that were to follow later in the day were going to lead me a hospital that is close to our neighborhood. I was going to meet new people in one of the most trivial circumstances I have ever experienced in my life. The events of this day are forever going to be imprinted in my memory having never saved a life before.
It was seven in the morning, and I was seated on the front porch of my compound having my ritualistic morning sunbath before partaking in my daily routines. At around seven thirty in the morning I got up and started preparing myself, the morning shower and later my breakfast. I got dressed and got off in my car.
I was slowly driving out of my driveway when a screech followed by a blunt thud got my attention. The brutal noise came from the left side of the driveway. I got out of my car and to my horror in front of me was a teenage girl who seemed to be barely fourteen years of age. She lay on the curb of the roadside lifeless. Blood was slowly trickling down her forehead and nasal passage. Instinctively I got hold of the number plate belonging to the vehicle that ran over the young girl.
The driver of the vehicle was driving off in a hurry, screeching as he negotiated the next bend. The shock I experienced on seeing this amount of blood ran a chill down my spine. I fumbled through my pockets to find my cell phone so as to call 911. “Hello, can I have a medic at the 9th street please, there has been an accident, and a young girl has been run over”. If my memory serves me right these were the exact words I uttered to the operator.
While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, the parents of the girl had already arrived, they live in the same neighborhood as I do. The screaming and holding of their child gave me a sharp pain inside me, the kind of pain only a parent who has been in such a situation can really fathom. It was now quarter past eight, a crowd was steadily gathering, we could hear sirens from a distant. An ambulance arrived and the medics went straight at giving the young girl, who was now bleeding profusely, the first aid that she badly needed. Ten minutes later the police arrived. Being the first person at the accident scene I provided them with information that led to the arrest of the person who ran over the young girl.
I described the vehicle in detail to the police officers. I had not seen the driver of the vehicle so I didn’t describe the driver. It took only three hours to find the vehicle and the intoxicated driver who was arrested and charged with a whole assortment of crimes. The parents to the young girl later visited me and thanked me for my actions that led to the arrest of the culprit.
Looking back at the events of that day, I realize how split second decisions and the calm composure that I had saved the girls life and led to the arrest of the culprit. I realized that panicking has no place for such events; a calm and organized mood will help solve the problem.
