8th traffic fatality of the year

[Chattanooga Police]

03/24/07

Just before midnight, 03/23/07 Chattanooga Police Traffic Investigators were called to another traffic fatality, this time involving a motor cycle.

According to Traffic Investigator Michael Ortel, Noah Snodgrass 71 of Rossville GA was traveling in the 4600 block of Access Rd. in Hixson when he lost control of his 2005 Harley Davidson motor cycle. The motor cycle left the pavement and struck the guardrail, Mr. Snodgrass was thrown from the motorcycle, he was pronounced dead on the scene by EMS .

Investigators stated alcohol was a contributing factor in the accident.

8th Fatality of the year

----
Sgt. Kim Noorbergen
Chattanooga Police Department
Police Information Officer

[Gary]

71 year old, on a motorcycle, drunk. I'm sorry for his family and their loss, but at the same time I'm thinking, "What a fucking idiot. At 71 you think he would have known better."

[Kordax]

I happened upon a parking lot area last night where the person (also riding a motorcycle) was -- he was the one who happened upon the deceased rider after seeing a motorcycle resting against a gard rail & was, after climbing off his own bike, trying his best to decompress. For those of us who don't normally encounter horrible scenes like that one, it can leave mental anguish for a long time, perhaps forever. I'll never forget being the 1st on the scene some 40+ years ago where a motorcycle rider was struck head on going down Brainerd Road approaching Germantown Road -- I feel for the young man I met last night who was taking things very hard ....

[Felix]

Those who venture into traffic with no more between them and the road or other vehicles than a helmet and leathers have more guts than judgement, I think. Even the most careful cyclist (motorized or otherwise) is at such a disadvantage in such an encounter as the one last night.

I understand the attraction of roaring down the road with the wind whipping by you, and 360^o of scenery around you. The cost can be so high, though.

I am sorry for the man who died, and his family. Some determination, to be still riding at his age.

[tcrashfx]

For those of us who don't normally encounter horrible scenes like that one, it can leave mental anguish for a long time, perhaps forever.

Having done that 150+ times (I quit counting at 150, a long time ago), I am damn clear on that.

And people wonder why we become cynical and we withdraw into the company of other cops, after a time. And people wonder why we talk about these things to people other that our spouses and children? "Been there and done that" has a whole new meaning when you experience this stuff daily. I guess that is why we call it a "Brotherhood" and now a "Sisterhood (Thank God!). And people wonder why there is a need for a "Thin Blue Line".

Step across the Line just one time and you will know it. The person Kordax mentioned "Knows it". I feel for him.

How do you explain these feelings to a "regular" person? To another "regular" person who has only felt a tinge of this after watching a TV show or a movie or read it in a book or seen it on the news?

I once had a justifiable "rudeness" complaint filed against me. I had just come from measuring the holes, made in an apartment, by an enraged father who swung his child, by the feet, into the walls like a baseball bat. Some were just little tiny dents where Ty Cobb swung the infant into a stud, by accident. All because the child, "Would not fuckin' stop fuckin' cryin'".

The holes were made by the head of the helpless infant. The baby was dead when we got there. They had, at least, changed his clothes. The mother and father were there also. So was the blood/brain spatter all over the walls and the floor and the ceiling and the coffee table.

I went to the GG (Golden Gallon, back in the day) to decompress about what I had just seen, felt, smelled, touched and heard.

I gotta cup of FREE coffee and a citizen came up to me and said, "I guess you don't have anything better to do than to sit here and get a FREE cup of coffee when you should be out there ticketing the speeders on my street, that I have called in about at least 20 times. You need to start doing your damn job! I demand you do something about it, 'cause I pay your salary"

I looked him dead in the eye and told him, "Go fuck yourself and your speeders too!"

He didn't understand my point or my perspective, for some reason.

I served the 1 day suspension (W/O pay) with a smile on my face.

And I never, ever drove a patrol car on his street, ever again.

Life is short and can end unexpectedly for no damn reason (Or for a very good reason).

It is why I hug my wife and my kids every chance I get.

I have consequently built a "Thick, as hell, Blue Wall" around my work and what I see, smell, hear, touch and taste during my 12 hour shift into the abyss.

Due the guidance of a certain Chaplain, I am trying to add a gate or two into that wall.

So forgive me when I go off like a Palestian car bomb when someone accuses us LE folks of being donut eating "I pay your salary" slackers.

I am aware that when I look into the abyss, the abyss looks into me.

I am trying to get over that.

[Jay]

That is just really, really horrible.... I can't see how someone could do something like that.... Witnessing all that first hand.......it can't be easy. Not many people could do your job. I feel for you,

~J

[LimitedRecourse]

Having been the first officer on the scene of the fatality in front of the Services Center last week (pedestrain struck by vehicle traveling over 60 mph), I can concur with Tcrash & Kordax that even though we may see dozens (or more) horrific scenes, each one has its own cut to make. I think the poor lady who happened upon the scene about 30 seconds after the event, and who could barely stand up because she was so upset at the sounds that body parts make when you run over them, was the heat for this particular blade.