rialtonow

Hello everyone, I from time to time cover topics outside of Rialto. My goal is and always will be to cover the ins and outs of Rialto but we all travel outside of our city to shop work and live.

At 6:05 November 27, 2011 My family and I were on our way to get gas at the Costco on sierra lakes parkway. As I made my left turn from sierra to the parkway traffic came to a screeching halt. My first thought was people were still out like crazy shopping and the lights were backing up, I was wrong and the truth was much worse than I expected.

A young man and his friends were running across the parkway and one was struck by a green Honda civic with so much force the windshield was totally caved in. Most people just drove on by a few stopped I was one of the few.

I safely pulled my car to the side and had my wife put on the flashers. I called 911 and rushed to the scene to assist the others that had stopped. One lady was down with the teen talking to dispatchers others were trying to get the young mans friends to remain calm, he was breathing but very bloody and not responding to our voices. As I turn as my back was to the intersection I see motorists nearly running us down screaming profanities and honking angrily, REALLY!!!!!!!

The first woman on scene was with the teen I turned my attention to giving the best information to the fire dispatcher that I could so that they could come as prepared as possible. While doing this I directed traffic to keep everyone safe. Once the first Fontana Police officer arrived on scene I left him with the victim and shut down anymore traffic coming down that side of the parkway. One person cussed and mad because he needed to get into the lowes shopping center and didn’t like to be inconvinced, REALLY!!!!!!!!! Wait till its him or someone he loves and cares for lying in the road fighting for their lives, his tone will change.

The people who stopped to help were people of faith because they took the friends aside and began praying with them it was nice to see.

People POLICE, FIRE & AMR don’t run code 3 (lights and sirens) for a lunch break their on their way to a serious call get out of their way……….. Pull to the right, if that’s not safe just stop they will go around you.

I was prepared for this because I do it daily on the job and have had tons of first responder training, but I still found myself unprepared. I have no first aid kit in my car, no gloves, no flashlight and neither did anyone there some of those people helping the teen have his blood on them not safe, I was directing traffic with no reflective clothing no flashlight not safe. I will learn from this and stock both cars with whats nessicary for an emergency, listing the following:

First Aide kit – Nothing to fancy but one with gloves and a CPR mask bare minimum.

Flashlight – LED flashlights last a long time on their batteries and have long-lasting lenses good for something you don’t need everyday.

Reflective Vest – Thier not expensive and can make helping someone out safer for you and them.

Take a First Aide Course – Red Cross offers a program that is inexpensive and informative it will help you understand what emergency dispatchers are asking you and prepare you for the most common emergencies.