Post by RuneDeer on Apr 20, 2007 20:09:45 GMT -5
My husband's cousin sent this e-mail. Her daughter works in NYC and on Sunday, she was crossing the street in heavy rain when an SUV struck her. She copy/pasted the account she was required to give to the police & insurance.
As you'll see when you read this, she was fortunate beyond words to get by with no internal injuries or broken bones. But I probably ought to add a disclaimer: This is graphic.
*
4/15/07 Day of Accident
I was traveling on Stuyvesant heading North on the West side of the street. I was carrying my green suede purse, a multi-colored umbrella, and a large white plastic bag containing a chandelier in a plastic box. It was raining very heavily. I approached the intersection of Stuyvesant and Macon Street and began to enter the crosswalk.
I initially saw the vehicle approaching me on my left heading East on Macon Street about 10-15 ft away. The vehicle was moving relatively slowly (15-20 miles per hour) so I believed the vehicle was slowing to stop at the crosswalk. As I proceeded across Macon Street, I saw the vehicle out of the corner of my eye and realized that the vehicle had not stopped. The vehicle struck me on my left side and proceeded to move forward. This caused me to crumple and slip underneath the front of the vehicle. As I was falling, I hit the front of the vehicle with my right hand and yelled out “Stop the car.” I apparently dropped both my umbrella and my chandelier.
The vehicle continued to move forward until I was completely underneath the center of the body of the vehicle with my feet near the middle of the vehicle and my head underneath the front bumper. The vehicle then rolled to a stop above me. I was very confused as to whether the vehicle was stopping because I had been struck or was stopping at the stop sign. When I realized the vehicle had come to a stop I looked above me and saw a black bar under the bumper. I reached up with my right hand and grabbed the bar in an effort to pull myself out from under the vehicle.
Once I had grasped the bar, the vehicle began moving again and quickly accelerated. I did not know what to do so I continued to grasp the bar. My coat immediately pulled open and spread out on the road around me. I continued to yell “Stop the car! Stop the car!” My immediate thought was that I needed to get my body off of the ground as I was being pulled side to side and I could feel myself dragging on the pavement. I was also becoming tangled in my clothes. I wedged my right foot up into the bottom of the middle of the vehicle and tried to pull myself closer to the underside of the vehicle and off the road. It was very loud as I was directly under the motor and water was splashing all around me.
The vehicle continued at around 35mph. As I tried to pull myself up, I hit the driver’s side wheel strut with the interior of my right hip –I immediately felt like I had been burned very badly. (In retrospect, I found out that the strut had actually torn through my jeans and my skin and it only felt like a burn.) I reacted to the sudden pain by jolting my hip away from the bottom of the vehicle. Due to this sudden movement, I hit my head on the pavement and because we were moving so quickly, the back right top of my head was dragged on the ground for several seconds. This severed large chunks of hair off of my scalp and scraped away the skin on my head. This made me immediately nauseated and disoriented. I knew that if my head continued to drag I would pass out and I would probably die, so I forced myself to hoist my body off of the road again.
As I finally managed to get my body off of the pavement, the vehicle rolled to a stop. I immediately let go of the bar and dropped to the ground. I felt immediate and severe pain in my lower back and I realized that my right foot was now stuck in the space under the vehicle. I started kicking against the ground with my left foot which caused my rain boot to come off of my left foot. This kicking, with the help of my arms, propelled me to side of the vehicle. I managed to pull myself out from under the vehicle and wound up under the driver’s side front wheel. I then realized that my coat had also become entangled in the underside of the vehicle and that I was pinned in place. I began screaming and hitting the wheel and the body of the vehicle above the wheel. I kept pushing with my left leg trying to free myself from the underside of the vehicle but since my boot had come off, I wound up scraping the bottom of my ankle terribly against the pavement. I believed in that moment that if the driver did not hear me I would be crushed to death under the wheel.
Fortunately, the door opened and I saw the driver, Ms. M, peek out and see me. She said something that I could not understand and immediately slammed the door closed. I did not know if she was going to drive off or not, but she put the vehicle in reverse apparently in order to get it off of me. As she backed up, my foot became free from the underside of the car.
Once the vehicle was no longer on top of me, I realized that I was soaked and that my purse had remained on my left arm and most of my belongings were still inside of it. I started shaking uncontrollably as I was severely cold, wet, and (later told by the trauma team) that I had gone into shock. Within 2-3 minutes I was approached by two police officers who told me not to move and put an umbrella over me. I remained on the ground for about 5-7 minutes and then I was lifted and moved to an ambulance by two EMS workers.
As you'll see when you read this, she was fortunate beyond words to get by with no internal injuries or broken bones. But I probably ought to add a disclaimer: This is graphic.
*
4/15/07 Day of Accident
I was traveling on Stuyvesant heading North on the West side of the street. I was carrying my green suede purse, a multi-colored umbrella, and a large white plastic bag containing a chandelier in a plastic box. It was raining very heavily. I approached the intersection of Stuyvesant and Macon Street and began to enter the crosswalk.
I initially saw the vehicle approaching me on my left heading East on Macon Street about 10-15 ft away. The vehicle was moving relatively slowly (15-20 miles per hour) so I believed the vehicle was slowing to stop at the crosswalk. As I proceeded across Macon Street, I saw the vehicle out of the corner of my eye and realized that the vehicle had not stopped. The vehicle struck me on my left side and proceeded to move forward. This caused me to crumple and slip underneath the front of the vehicle. As I was falling, I hit the front of the vehicle with my right hand and yelled out “Stop the car.” I apparently dropped both my umbrella and my chandelier.
The vehicle continued to move forward until I was completely underneath the center of the body of the vehicle with my feet near the middle of the vehicle and my head underneath the front bumper. The vehicle then rolled to a stop above me. I was very confused as to whether the vehicle was stopping because I had been struck or was stopping at the stop sign. When I realized the vehicle had come to a stop I looked above me and saw a black bar under the bumper. I reached up with my right hand and grabbed the bar in an effort to pull myself out from under the vehicle.
Once I had grasped the bar, the vehicle began moving again and quickly accelerated. I did not know what to do so I continued to grasp the bar. My coat immediately pulled open and spread out on the road around me. I continued to yell “Stop the car! Stop the car!” My immediate thought was that I needed to get my body off of the ground as I was being pulled side to side and I could feel myself dragging on the pavement. I was also becoming tangled in my clothes. I wedged my right foot up into the bottom of the middle of the vehicle and tried to pull myself closer to the underside of the vehicle and off the road. It was very loud as I was directly under the motor and water was splashing all around me.
The vehicle continued at around 35mph. As I tried to pull myself up, I hit the driver’s side wheel strut with the interior of my right hip –I immediately felt like I had been burned very badly. (In retrospect, I found out that the strut had actually torn through my jeans and my skin and it only felt like a burn.) I reacted to the sudden pain by jolting my hip away from the bottom of the vehicle. Due to this sudden movement, I hit my head on the pavement and because we were moving so quickly, the back right top of my head was dragged on the ground for several seconds. This severed large chunks of hair off of my scalp and scraped away the skin on my head. This made me immediately nauseated and disoriented. I knew that if my head continued to drag I would pass out and I would probably die, so I forced myself to hoist my body off of the road again.
As I finally managed to get my body off of the pavement, the vehicle rolled to a stop. I immediately let go of the bar and dropped to the ground. I felt immediate and severe pain in my lower back and I realized that my right foot was now stuck in the space under the vehicle. I started kicking against the ground with my left foot which caused my rain boot to come off of my left foot. This kicking, with the help of my arms, propelled me to side of the vehicle. I managed to pull myself out from under the vehicle and wound up under the driver’s side front wheel. I then realized that my coat had also become entangled in the underside of the vehicle and that I was pinned in place. I began screaming and hitting the wheel and the body of the vehicle above the wheel. I kept pushing with my left leg trying to free myself from the underside of the vehicle but since my boot had come off, I wound up scraping the bottom of my ankle terribly against the pavement. I believed in that moment that if the driver did not hear me I would be crushed to death under the wheel.
Fortunately, the door opened and I saw the driver, Ms. M, peek out and see me. She said something that I could not understand and immediately slammed the door closed. I did not know if she was going to drive off or not, but she put the vehicle in reverse apparently in order to get it off of me. As she backed up, my foot became free from the underside of the car.
Once the vehicle was no longer on top of me, I realized that I was soaked and that my purse had remained on my left arm and most of my belongings were still inside of it. I started shaking uncontrollably as I was severely cold, wet, and (later told by the trauma team) that I had gone into shock. Within 2-3 minutes I was approached by two police officers who told me not to move and put an umbrella over me. I remained on the ground for about 5-7 minutes and then I was lifted and moved to an ambulance by two EMS workers.