I just got home from an incident that demonstrated to me why so few people are willing to put their necks on the line to be "good samaritans" anymore. (Some) of our police departments don't encourage it!
I was driving home from a doctor's appt. It was raining fairly heavy so traffic on the interstate was moving at below normal speed limit. An SUV about 3 cars ahead of me went to change lanes (we were in the left) to the right lane. He hit a patch of water and hydroplaned into the guardrail. Apparently he tried to compensate and wrenched it back to the left, hit the water again and sent his vehicle into a 360 spin, barely missing another truck (I had actually thought he hit it, but that truck kept on going.)
The SUV finally stopped, all four wheels were basically buckeld inwards, and there was a dent on the right side of the vehicle where it hit the guard rail, but no major damage other than that, but since I was already slowed down and passing on the left, I rolled down my window to ask the driver if he was OK. It was a teenager, and he was about hysterical. So I pulled over on the side of the road to check on them (there was another young man and girl in the vehicle as well, the girl was sobbing and holding her shoulder.)
The SUV was in the middle of the expressway, but there was no way the young man was getting back in to move it (not sure it would move with the way the wheels looked). I got the 3 teens over on the side of the road and into my car because t was still raining, and they were are in shock, babbling and talking at the same time. The young man in the passenger side dialed 911 about the same time as I did, so I told the operator that he was calling it in.
The young girl (she ws actually 20 and the boys were 18, but they were panicked and seemed A LOT younger) wanted her mom to come and get her, but she wasn't home. So I said don't worry I'd give them a lift if needed.
The police arrive and ask what happens. The boys go off with him and tell him about it. The girl is still in my car talking to her mom on the phone. The officer gets all 3 kids into his car to talk to them and comes back and asks me what happened and I told him what i said above.
He leans in my car and sniffs, "Did you spill some alcohol in here?" I said no, maybe some coffee, but no alcohol and kind of laughed. (There is no smell of alcohol in my car. I have a drink maybe once every three or four months on a special occasion! not a complete tee-totaller, but the next best thing.) He said, "Well it must have been the boy that was sitting here then. Was he driving?" then he changed the question real fast, "Which one was driving?" I told him the young man that was sitting in my back seat. He asks me if I'm sure. I said that he was the one that got out of the driver's side first. They all got out of the driver's side because the traffic was stopped on that side. He asks me if I know these kids. I told him no. He said, "you just stopped?" I said "yes, I was behind them when they hit the rail and spun out, and i wanted to make sure they were OK."
Then he goes, "Are you sure you don't know them and you're not just trying to keep them out of trouble?" <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> I told him no. He said because one had been drinking and I didn't want someone like that on the road, it could be my family next time. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> This cop was accusing me of lying! And all I had been trying to do was help!
Turns out the kid had
not been drinking (it was his cologne - he tested 0 on the breathalizer, both boys did, they had just gotten out of school!)
But this cop just really pi**ed me off! These kids had just about really hurt themselves, they had been going under the speed limit, they hydroplaned (like anybody can do), they were scared kids, I was trying to help, and this man was calling me a liar.
Then when I said something to him about not appreciating being called a liar, he said "I did no such thing." I said, "You accused me of knowing these kids and covering for them." he said, "No, I was asking if you were."
<img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />
With cops like that, it's no wonder so few people stop to help others! However, I'll do it again; and I'll just get up in the cops face next time!
AAAAUUUGGHH!
