Please!

[Smoken D]

For over 20 years I was known as Detective Death. If you weren't dead, I wasn't called. Fatal accidents was my specialty, I worked over one thousand six hundred of em during those 20 years. The real result, 66% of those involved alcohol. Yes it really was 66%. I will not tell you the things I saw, for you see God did choose me to do that job. Many officers I saw cry. One time when I arrived at the scene a big Ole officer was crying and came up to me and handed me a six month old baby pleading to help save this child's life. But you see, the child was really in two parts, cut in half from metal sheering the body. I took the child and promised I would take care of it. I will also tell you even a six month old child sees and knows death when it is about to happen. The expression on its face, I saw what that child last saw. You see, just over 300 of those deaths were children under the age of 12. I was the one that went and did the death notification. That is another story. For I knew how to do that, what to say, what to expect. Autopsy, yes, many, very many. Blood, body parts, yes. I put em all back together. Smell of rotten flesh, flesh that was burned. Sometimes how on earth do you figure out the name of this corps, who was this individual. Mostly, I was the one to figure out, what happened, why! I kept parents from seeing the vehicle. They always wanted to go and see where their child last was. I always told them that is not the way to remember and I would not tell them the last thing their child saw, or the infliction of pain they last felt as their body was ripped apart. Please just remember them for the many years of happiness you had with them, not the last moment of their life.

 

I am retired now, leave me and my memories alone, only what I saw. I am terrified of children, I cannot hold them, because they were always dead. I hate teenagers, why? Because they don't know how to die. Their body was so young. Lungs torn apart, heart shredded to pieces, every bone sticking out. But their dang brain just would keep fighting on. We called it, "Dead but don't know it". They were just soo scared of dying when it came upon them. Nothing would work, but the brain just tried to keep clicking. I would find them in the trauma center and no nurse, doctor, would be around them. Just waiting for the brain to finally give up. I would go up to them, whisper in their ear, it's OK, go on, don't be scared, I'll tell your mommy, it'll be OK. I'm here to take care of it. Damn teenagers, just die so I can make the notification. I have 1600 stories, don't ever ask if it got easier because I will tell you the truth. Yes, it did, it was always easy for me. It was my job.

 

Watch, no children allowed!

 

Please, DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!

[Red Rider Rudy]

Smoken D, that's one incredible video. Sure makes you think!

[Ricochet Roy, SASS #71853]

Smoken D, that's one incredible video. Sure makes you think!

 

 

+ 1. Thanks for sharing this video, and thank you for your service.

 

Ricochet Roy

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

As a one time LEO, I too have had to deal with the death of kids. Still hurts!

SD, you put in words my feelings about it better than I have ever seen. THANK YOU!

Pulling a dead child off the bottom of a pool with the parents watching you will change you for the rest of your life.

I will not go on because it still hurts for me to remember all the dead/dying kids I have held.

Respectfully,

LG

[Jailhouse Jim, SASS #13104]

Very sobering Smoken D. The death of a child is always difficult for anyone to cope with, almost impossible for those who might have stopped them from driving. Hopefully your post will help at least of few from being statistics.

 

Thank you for your service and I pray the memories will haunt you less over the years. Yes, it was your job and I am sure you did it well but it shouldn't be a life sentence.

 

Jailhouse Jim

[Reuben McCoy Rankin # 34239]

Very good post. Perfect time of the year for it.

Thank you for all that you have done.

Maybe kids(teenagers) should watch the video?

Reuben

[lefty pete]

Smoken D,Thank you for your post .I lost one of my best friends 26 years ago because of a drunk driver.I wish the guy that was the driver that night had seen that video.The part that was weirdfor me was,my friend was on his way over to my place when it happened.So my motto is:If you drink and drive in front of me you WILL meet the local PD.

[Blue Steel Duke]

I know this won't be a popular view, but at some point society will have to put 2 and 2 together. Here in Indiana they're pushing for alcohol sales on Sunday, reducing the legal drinking age to 18, and selling liquor at every corner drug store, but then they complain when we have drunk Officers, Firefighters, Judges, School Administrators, and NFL athletes. I guess they want more access with less consequences..............if it only worked that way.

 

Here's to a sober and safe New year!

 

BSD

[Three Foot Johnson]

In the late night hours of May 4, 1981, I received a call from my former Mother in Law in Oak Harbor, WA informing me that my 22 month old daughter had been run over and killed in her own front yard by a drunk driver earlier in the evening. They lived on a corner and he mistook their driveway for the street some yards farther on that he intended to turn on. He realized his mistake, turned his wheels, cut across the lawn, and right over her.

 

PLEASE DON'T DRINK & DRIVE

 

PLEASE...

[Brother King, SASS #69031]

Thanks- great post... and I've never, ever read such a moving personal perspective. Just so you know, I posted the whole thing to my Facebook page. You have a way with words about this subject that others have to read....especially with New Year's eve coming like a freight train.

 

My middle son was a party boy in college. I personally thanked the two cops that arrested him both times for DUI for getting him off the street. They looked shocked at first. But, he finally graduated college and has a career job partly because of them.

 

Sobering that the most dangerous drug of all is legal.

[Cheyenne Culpepper 32827]

The fear of every responder to accidents is the fear of children being involved. Whether LEOs, DRs or highway workers. I remember nearly crawling under a car in search of an infant because of an empty car seat. Fortunately for all involved the child was left at home.

 

Cheyenne

[Calamity Kris]

Smoken D, thank you for this post. It brings the painful reality of driving impaired home. Being a former FF/PM, I too have seen my share of death at the hands of an impaired driver. For me, it never got easier. I applaud you for bringing awareness as to the seriousness of this issue to us. I hope this video will be shown and discussed in a family setting with young people who are old enough to understand it. Hopefully they won't forget the message then and will be able to help their parents remember it as well.

 

To reiterate your message, please don't drive impaired this holiday season. We would like to have you amongst us for many years to come. The consequences of your actions could reach far beyond yourself.

 

CK

[Blackwater 53393]

My dad was a LEO for almost all of his adult life. He was a Warrant Officer JG in the U.S. Air Force and went directly to a local sheriff's patrol when he mustered out. Back in the days when I was runnin' wild as a teenager he would take me to accident scenes and other violent incidents to drive home his piont. YES!! I drank to excess and until I wised up I drove impaired. That was until one night when several of my friends were involved in a fatal accident. Several of my classmates left the road in an open convertible. This was 1969 or 1970. The date is unimportant except that the world as we knew it was a kinder gentler place. Sadly, one of my classmates was killed. The driver was seriously injured as were others in the car. I wound up on the scene and to say it opened my eyes is certainly an understatement.

 

In an ironic twist, immediately after delivering the news to the deceased boy's parents, my dad was hit from behind by a drunk driver. His car was pushed over a guardrail and it rolled down an embankment going end over end twice and side over side six times. Fortunately my father walked away with only scratches. The other driver left the scene and ended up several miles away, only stopping when the engine in his badly damaged vehicle overheated and siezed up. He never knew he had hit another vehicle because he was so drunk.

 

It didn't take long for me to figure out that a phone call or cab fare was a smarter choice. Until we teach responsibility to our children we will have tragic losses. I can say that my son was smarter than I was. Even as an under age drinker he never drove while impared. I had to go and get his car a time or two, and once he spent a night in the juzgado for being intoxicated, but even the chief deputy told me he was proud of the boy for not running away and for not trying to drive. He told me that my son had given his keys to another older classmate to hold so he wouldn't be tempted to drive.

 

We can legislate all we want and preach from the rooftops, but until we teach our youth responsibility and common sense, we are the ones who must look at ourselves when finding fault.

 

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL!!

[Henry T Harrison]

Thanks for your message, I hope that it helps to make people think

a little harder before taking the wheel after drinking.

 

I also feel your pain, for over 25 years of my career I investigated crimes against children and sexual assaults, not just for my department but also as a member of a federal task force.

People will never understand the things we have seen, and the horrors that we lived with.

For reasons that I won’t discuss I don’t do well at Christmas it just brings the demons out to play.

I’m retired also but still serve on the county EMS, and regional CISM team, some of us just never learn.

If you ever need to talk shoot me a PM for my phone number.

Peace and be safe my brother

 

HTH

[Smoken D]

Just a bump for today and tonight. Be careful out there pards. It'll be good shooten next year! And a Happy New Year to each.

[Phantom, SASS #54973]

Folks...please remember...Taxi are cheap.

 

[Texas Man]

Very sobering indeed. My father was a fireman and or house was half a block away and I became a volunteer fireman at a early age and Our pastor worked at the funeral home three blocks away from our house and next door to our house was the towing company. So I grew up around death from an early age. I rember the day one of the olded men told me "Son if you follow those firetrucks and ambulance enought You will see some things You dont want to see" and in time I did and later when I was a helper at the funeral home I saw it all.

 

The video You posted here is one of the best I have ever seen and about the only thing left is the actual smeel of blood and death itself. Over a period of years I recall working around three hundred and sixty deaths and one night several of us tried to count up how many involved alcohol and we came up with about 86%.

 

Things alway seem to come in threes and I recall on a Labor day nighton a Friday around midnight I helped work an accident that involved eleven people where a 56 mercury with a drunk crossed over the center line and hit a 57 Oldsmobile. Of the eleven people eight were dear at the scene . The follow Saturday night in the early morning I worked the nastyest car accident I ever worked when a 57 Plymouth hit a Peterbuild head on with seven teenagers in the car and the car went under the truck and inside the car was like someone had run all seven thru a meatgrinder. We put body parts in black bags and back the the funeral home we had no idea what belong to who. The 14 year old driver had gone to sleep as he follow his parents in a truck.

 

One of my Texas Highway Officers told me a heart stopping store about working an accident where a young girl had gone to a school function and her best friend and her b/f was in the 1987 Jeep station wagon and on the way home she run off the edge of the road making the gravel fly and her friends b/f who had been drinks thought it was funny and when she playfully ran off again she lost control and spun digging the rims of her car in the pavement and flipping her car. He showed me the pictures of the accident and the upper part of the drivers window was on the young ladys next preventing her form breathing and she died and next to her head was her purse with her drivers licence picture showing her face. He said He and his wife had had the young lady as a babysetter for his childern and the hardest thing he ever had to do was go up the her house a few miles away and tell her family.

 

 

Texas Man

[Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217]

Whew! That was heart breaking.

 

I've got a mini rant to add.

 

For once, I wish other states would follow CA's example and ban cell phone use (except hands free) when driving and I wish the CHP would start enforcing that law!

 

Bravo to Oprah for her efforts to have folks pledge to stop using phones while driving.

 

Regards,

 

Allie Mo

[Widder, SASS #59054]

My wife was 8 when she lost her mom in a car accident on Christmas eve.

 

It was reported that another vehicle crossed the center line and force her mom's car into a bridge abuttment. The driver of the other vehicle just drove on. There wasn't alot of car damage because she wasn't going fast. But the sudden stop caused her neck to jerk and her head pop the dash board and it killed her instantly. She left behind 4 children ages 11,9,8 and 6.

 

Don't know if alcohol was involved or not but things such as this usually carry a commonality with other such accidents.

 

Be safe Y'all and help keep the rest of us safe!

 

 

..........Widder

[Texas Jim Henry, SASS #20616]

For once, I wish other states would follow CA's example and ban cell phone use (except hands free)...

 

Regards,

 

Allie Mo

 

Howdy, Allie -

 

The sad thing is that research has shown that "hands-free" phones are just as detrimental to a driver's attention as hand-held devices. As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm afraid the ship has sailed when it comes to drivers engaging in cell phone conversations/texting when they're behind the wheel. Many of our local municipalities have banned the use of cell phones in school zones, but I see people using them every day!

 

What has happened in our lives in the last 15-20 years that has made having a conversation with someone more important than giving your full attention to maneuvering a 2-3 ton vehicle down the road?!?

 

Regards, TJH

[Ethan Cord]

My wife is still suffering constant pain from the drunk driver that hit us over 2 years ago. She no longer can enjoy any of her favorite activities, her guns remain untouched in the safe and her Dyna Low Rider sits sadly in the garage with less than 2000 miles on it. She is not able to work due to the pain. The driver was an illegal from south of the border. All the jerk got was a fine and less than a month later he got another 502. He is still here in the land of the free. You wouldn't want to violate his rights by deporting him.

 

Last night my son's car was hit by what we are assuming was a drunk driver while he was on his way to work (he works nights). The other driver fled the scene and Dan's restored Z-28 is now junk. But, his big car did it's job and my son is alive. That is what is important to me.

 

Thanks for posting this reminder.

 

J-Bar - your story breaks my heart. I don't even know what else to say.

[Shiloh Brown]

Thanks for posting this, SD. Like too many others here I lost my father to a drunk driver. I was 49 years ago but it still hurts.

 

To all of you Pards out there that do the jobs nobody else will do, I give you a wholehearted THANK YOU!

 

Have a great New Year.

 

Shiloh

[Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217]

Howdy, Allie -

 

The sad thing is that research has shown that "hands-free" phones are just as detrimental to a driver's attention as hand-held devices. As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm afraid the ship has sailed when it comes to drivers engaging in cell phone conversations/texting when they're behind the wheel. Many of our local municipalities have banned the use of cell phones in school zones, but I see people using them every day!

 

What has happened in our lives in the last 15-20 years that has made having a conversation with someone more important than giving your full attention to maneuvering a 2-3 ton vehicle down the road?!?

 

Regards, TJH

Hi Jim,

 

I believe it. I would prefer all phones be banned from use while driving. I only added that part in parends as it is in the CA law.

 

H&R,

 

Allie Mo

[Brother King, SASS #69031]

Howdy, Allie -

 

The sad thing is that research has shown that "hands-free" phones are just as detrimental to a driver's attention as hand-held devices. As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm afraid the ship has sailed when it comes to drivers engaging in cell phone conversations/texting when they're behind the wheel. Many of our local municipalities have banned the use of cell phones in school zones, but I see people using them every day!

 

What has happened in our lives in the last 15-20 years that has made having a conversation with someone more important than giving your full attention to maneuvering a 2-3 ton vehicle down the road?!?

 

Regards, TJH

+1... and for me talking on the phone, texting, puttin on makeup, driving with your yappy-freakin' dog in your lap with his head out the window, drinking coffee and eating a doughnut while steering w/ your knees.... and I could go on and on and on.... it's really ALL the same.... it's simply DRIVING DISTRACTED. Whenever a new technology comes out someone is going to make a law to make it illegal, but in reality it doesn't do much good.

 

I was on my Harley after picking up the kickstand at 0530 in Washington DC it was 1830 in Iowa... yes, a long, long day. I call those "peanuts and Monster- butt runs." In fairness to me, I had been cut off twice that day, but avoided them both by anticipating the blind spots and riding into daylight (swerved like mad). I was bound and determined to make Iowa City or maybe even Des Moines.

 

As I approached the car in the regular lane I could tell that the driver was having a problem from way back, so I stayed far left in the hammer lane. I thought sure it must be a drunk, but as I pulled closer I could see the woman with a dog in her lap looking out the driver window, a cup of coffee in her left hand on the wheel and she's putting on makeup using the visor mirror. Yes, I should have minded my manners, but I didn't expect her to suddenly jerk the wheel into my lane. It was all I could do to keep it on the shoulder... no idea how I did, but thankfully my 5-7 over speed + full throttle was enough to keep her from hitting me.

 

20 miles later I got pulled over, frisked, and ALMOST got ticketed for ROAD RAGE. Luckily I had memorized the license number. Luckily the trooper rode a scooter. Luckily he was also a Vet and I was coming home from my 10th consecutive Rolling Thunder. Luckily he wasn't freaked out by my leathers, back patches and CCW permit. He promised me that he'd find her and give her a 'whut-fer'. There's your "happens in 3's"

 

Yeah, I had enough adrenalin to make Iowa City. That night a tornado killed 4 people 30 miles north of where I stopped for the night. Good thing he stopped me!

[Gunner Gatlin, SASS 10274L]

Stayin' in tonight...as I have done the last 10 years. I have been no saint when I have been partying, but thankfully the good Lord helps me keep things in check today. That helps me have hope for a tomorrow. Not only for me but for others.

 

Thanks for the post

 

God bless...Happy New year.

 

GG ~

[Max Montana, SASS #23907]

Drinking & driving is a problem. Driving distracted is a problem. And it's obvious to me that for many, just plain driving is a problem.

 

I drive less than 5 miles to work. But, I guarantee you that each and every day, I observe multiple instances of persons running red lights, stop signs, and pulling out in front of other vehicles. Not just close calls, but egregious use of a vehicle like it was a weapon. I could go out and get in the car right now and drive down a posted 45 mph street with hidden driveways only to return to this thread within 20 minutes and report at least one vehicle traveling in excess of 60 mph. I observed one today on the way home weaving in and out of traffic approaching from way back only to pass me on the right, swerve into the lane in front of me then dodge the car in front of him by swerving into the left turn lane all within 40 yards of a red light! The average sober upstanding citizen driver out there is DANGEROUS!

[Three Foot Johnson]

I live off a long stretch of rural two lane that is straight as an arrow for 4 1/2 miles and it's been posted 55 mph for years now, but the town kids like to use it for thrills. In March last year, five of 'em paid the price when the driver of the truck they were in slammed into an embankment at the end of it at over a hundred miles an hour. All five died instantly. Four were 18 year old high school seniors and one was the 15 year old sister of one of them.

 

http://www.kbzk.com/news/five-teens-killed-in-helena-crash/

[Texas Man]

Sometimes the people who live thru it pay a high price as well. One is below.

 

Some years ago I hired a asphalt supervisor named Bill -------. He looked to be in his 60s and one day my secretary and I were talking about ageing and she told me that she had no idea Bill was as young as he was. I asked his age and she said he is only 41.

About a year later I ask Bill the drive a heavy haul truck to take a D-9 Cat out to a job because the regular driver was off that day. I was not expecting Bill to start shaking and turn pale. I ask him if he was alright and He said No he was sorry but he could not drive the truck. I told him O.K. I would take it. A few days later Bill ask to talk with me about someting. Here is what he had to say.

 

Boss, A few years ago I was working on a Saturday morning and was Driving a Perterbuilt Heavy haul truck and pulling a 60 ton drop trailer with a D-9 Cat like Yours when I was caught in a servere rain storm. And as You know the ground clearence is less than a foot under the trailer I could not just pull off the road anywhere. I had slowed down to maybe 30 miles an hour when when all at once out of nowhere came a car full of a family across the centerline right in front of me. I could planly see the father driving and the young mother with three little faces between them looking out the windshield right at me. I had no time to react and all I rememered was the truck felt like it hid a bump and by the time I stopped I ran back to see if I could help. The first I saw was the mother cut in half and parts of childern laying everwhere and the only thing I remember after that was waking up to bright lights over my bed in the hospital. As he wept, He told Me that since that day he has never had a solid nights sleep that he does not see the faces of that little family as they disapear under the front of his truck. I told him I would not ask him again to drive a rig and that He did everthing he could but it was their time to go.

Later I had the chance to talk with a man who was working with him at the time it happen and he said Bills hair had truned fron a jet black to white in a few weeks time and he lost over a hundred pounds and his entire life changed from a happy go lucky man to a man who kept to himself and seldom smiled or talked to anyone after that.

Sad to say but Bill killed himself a while later and I quess the guilth was just too much for him.

[Complicated Lady]

I wish you had put a warning at the beginning of your post.

Some of us have lost children and it is hard to read something like that.

Our oldest son, Chris, was killed in a truck accident June 23, 2009.

He was 23 years old but to a mother and father a child is always your child...your baby...someone you are supposed to protect. He was about to be married, about to start a family of his own.

 

We have no one to blame. It was a one vehicle accident. He was not drinking.

He worked in the oil fields and after working all day had been called back out to fix something.

He was working, being responsible. He was on his way home for the second time that night.

It was 3:00 am. He was just exhausted. He flipped the company truck.

They told us he talked to the EMTs while they tried to get him out.

The questions of what he said and what he went through will haunt us forever.

I know what my son looked like laying in that coffin. No parent should see that.

 

I understand you want people to think before they drink. I just wish I would have known what I was reading before I started reading it. I am typing with tears streaming down my face. I teach elementary school. I am about to have to try to explain to 3rd graders why I am crying.

I am not angry with you. I know you are trying to get people to think but please put a warning at the top of your post.

[Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217]

Dearest Complicated Lady,

 

I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

Sincerely,

 

Allie Mo

[Gunner Gatlin, SASS 10274L]

Sorry and prayers for you Complicated Lady and your family (and your son's friends). Unfortunately too many families deal with a loss in this manner whether drinking or not. Can only have hope and pray that folks heed this and various other warnings to NOT drink and drive.

 

Glad your son was one of those responsible to not have been drinking...again, so sorry that you are going through this.

 

GG ~

[Long Branch Louie]

For over 15 years, I drove drunk a lot. Tore up cars, busted myself and other folks up, got busted up riding with other drunks, and caused my family a lot of grief, they never knew what would happen next. But for the Grace of God, and I truly believe that, I would have killed someone. Pards, most folks that drive drunk have a problem, just like me. Even with all that law enforcement does , the odds of getting caught are not that great for the occassional drunk driver. I only got caught once, and even that didn't stop me. Neither did lost jobs, relationships or financial difficulties. I finally got sick enough inside to get some help. My point to all this is if you think you have a problem, you probably do, because most folks don't think much one way or the other about drinking. Get some help, pick up the phone, folks DON"T judge you, just take the 1st step. I'm 20 years sober now and still thank God everyday I didn't cause anymore mayhem than I did. I still work some with folks trying to get sober, there's a lot of joy in seeing someone be successful, and a lot of pain in losing the ones that don't. That's my obligation because so many tried to help me. Sorry for the rant, just remember, DON"T DRINK AND DRIVE and if you drink, that's your business, if you want to stop, I can steer you to some help....

[Complicated Lady]

Now that I have stopped crying, gotten hugs from my sweet students, and pulled myself together....

I feel compelled to add...

 

It's our strong faith in God and the assurance that our son is with God that makes us "okay"

Chris is fine. We miss him but we know that he is better off than any of us here.

At his funeral, person after person, shared with us stories of how he lead them to the Lord or of how his positive attitude helped them in some way.

...stories of how he would play his guitar everywhere he would go...

Our little boy, our sometimes rebellious teenager, he grew up to be a good man. He trusted God. He's fine

 

People have asked me if I was angry with God.

I'm not angry with God. If we start questioning God's wisdom where does that lead us?

I have to believe that God does not make mistakes.

I can only imagine how hard this would be if I didn't KNOW that Chris did what God intended for him to do on Earth and then He took him home.

 

I know that not everyone believes in God and it is not my intention to offend anyone.

For anyone reading this that thinks this was not the place for me to post this I apologize.

I guess I just needed to. I held it together and didn't cry on Chris' birthday or Christmas and I guess I just needed to.

 

I appreciate those who have let me know they care. Thank you, it does help to be able to talk sometimes.

It felt good to talk about Chris and how proud we are of him.

 

I think I will go fix some computers.

[Burly Bear Fred]

Thank You!

[Gunner Gatlin, SASS 10274L]

Now that I have stopped crying, gotten hugs from my sweet students, and pulled myself together....

I feel compelled to add...

 

It's our strong faith in God and the assurance that our son is with God that makes us "okay"

Chris is fine. We miss him but we know that he is better off than any of us here.

At his funeral, person after person, shared with us stories of how he lead them to the Lord or of how his positive attitude helped them in some way.

...stories of how he would play his guitar everywhere he would go...

Our little boy, our sometimes rebellious teenager, he grew up to be a good man. He trusted God. He's fine

 

People have asked me if I was angry with God.

I'm not angry with God. If we start questioning God's wisdom where does that lead us?

I have to believe that God does not make mistakes.

I can only imagine how hard this would be if I didn't KNOW that Chris did what God intended for him to do on Earth and then He took him home.

 

I know that not everyone believes in God and it is not my intention to offend anyone.

For anyone reading this that thinks this was not the place for me to post this I apologize.

I guess I just needed to. I held it together and didn't cry on Chris' birthday or Christmas and I guess I just needed to.

 

I appreciate those who have let me know they care. Thank you, it does help to be able to talk sometimes.

It felt good to talk about Chris and how proud we are of him.

 

I think I will go fix some computers.

 

May the good Lord continue to bless you and your family ~ thank you for your posts!

 

GG ~