Death on the Van Wyck

Driving south on the Van Wyck Expressway (Interstate 678, photo right) just south of the Whitestone Expressway and the exit to the Long Island Expressway late this afternoon I saw traffic slowing down ahead of me and coming to a stop in the left hand lane. As I slowly approached the traffic, I saw in the middle of the north bound lanes what I at first thought was a large dog. Being a dog lover with an overweight Lab/Golden/(who knows what breed) lovable rescue at home I tuned on my emergency flashers and started pulling over among the vehicles stopped in the left south bound lane to lend assistance. As I was pulling over, however, I realized that what I thought was a large dog in the middle of the north bound lanes was in fact a human being!

As a former Emergency Medical Technician with both volunteer and professional experience, even though my certifications had expired long ago, my mind quickly changed gears from animal lover to first responder. I parked between a couple other parked vehicles, shifted into park, turned off the ignition, and got out of my vehicle. I climbed up over the concrete Jersey barrier type medium and rushed to the figure lying in the middle of the road. Three others were gathered around but none appeared to be lending assistance.

As I approached closer and was prepared to check vital signs and perform an initial assessment I noticed that the figure’s head was covered with some sort of cloth. One of those standing by said that he had already checked and there no vitals. After a few moments of observation and a visual check of the immediate area, I took his word for it.

I asked the stranger standing near the figure if he had called 911.

He said he had.

I saw a motorcycle nearby and asked if it was the victim’s bike.

The man standing over the figure said no, that the victim’s bike was further ahead. I determined that the nearby bike must belong to one of the other’s standing nearby. I looked north and saw a bike about a hundred feet away.

The Good Samaritan asked me if I had a sheet or something to cover the figure. I did not. Determining that there was no assistance I could offer I climbed back over the barrier separating the northbound from the southbound lanes, got back into my vehicle, and headed southbound down the Van Wyck toward home.

Driving home, adrenaline flowing, brain synapses firing, I began to reflect on what had just happened. Even though I have not worked as an EMT for over twenty-eight years and my certification expired over twenty-five years ago, as I saw the figure lying in the middle of the road my training and experience seemed to take over as if I were on automatic pilot. While I saw my fair share of trauma and death while volunteering and working as an EMT, I have not seen any since other than in the clinical setting of a hospital or funeral home, yet I was not affected by what I saw. Nevertheless I will skip the details.

Now I want to know details. How did the accident occur? Who was the victim? I’ll keep checking the internet and will watch tonight’s local news as I seek to close the loop. I will let know what I find out.

(This post has been updated with a more recent post.)