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Permalink Reply by Reboot Oxnard on March 18, 2014 at 11:22pm

Years ago I came upon a downed biker on Fullerton near Stockton. With a smashed bike and in enough pain that he couldn't stand, none of the traffic was stopping to provide any assistance.

In a flash of naivete, I stopped to help. He had been hit from behind by a car and sent flying, it appeared that he had broken his leg and he was bleeding from cuts on his hands, shoulder and head. No cell phones in those days so I loaded him and his busted up bike in the car and took him to the closest hospital (the now defunct/relocated Children's Memorial). A doc from the ER came out to the car and determined that, since the injuries weren't life threatening and it was a children's hospital, they couldn't treat him. They wouldn't help him out of the car and recommended that he not be moved because of his leg. Instead, they suggested that I take him to the next closest hospital - the now defunct Grant Hospital. The docs at the ER at Grant did take him but not happily and wanted me to sign for his admission - something I wasn't about to do and which caused quite a stir. They even tried to keep me from unloading the bike. All-in-all, the experience cost me a couple of hours and a bloody mess in the car and left me with at least a little sympathy for why nobody would stop. I shudder to think what it would have been like if he had been dead or died.

We have it easier here these days. Grab the cell phone and call 911 and wait for help to arrive. My guess is that Belarus has cell phones but an aggressive 911 system, maybe not. I won't be casting stones, that's for sure.

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