My son had an archery match at school yesterday. School was out at 2:45, the match started at 4:30. My son and some friends decided to walk to a nearby store. Not half-way there, a kid from school comes by and offers them a ride. He's in a Ford Ranger, there's 5 "hitchhikers", so they pile in the back (it's a half-mile or so to the store). My son and another kid sit on the plastic toolbox. They come to an intersection maybe 100 yds after getting in the truck, take a left, and my son slides off the toolbox and over the side of the truck, backwards. As best I can find out, it was NOT the driver's fault.
I get a call from one of the kids that my son is lying on the side of the road with his clothes torn and lots of blood. I about freaked--last I knew he was walking to the store. We only live about 5-8 minutes from the school. I got there well before the ambulance did. Anyhow, fast-forward.....
My son is in the back of the ambulance, collar on, head taped down, on a board--no idea what kind of neck/back/skull/brain injuries he's suffered at this time. We're exiting off the interstate to the hospital. Lights flashing, sirens wailing, horn blowing. A few idiots along the way, but they moved over fairly quick without causing another crash. We come up to the road off the exit, vehicles are pulled or pulling over and stopping...except for a DirecTV van. We are travelling West, he's travelling North. He didn't slow down, he didn't speed up. As he crosses in front of us, THE IDIOT SMILES AND WAVES AT US!!!!!!!!!
If it had been possible, I would have left the ambulance and ran him down on foot. It's good that I couldn't get my hands on him at the time, because I just don't know what I would have done.
The important thing is my son will be ok. He'll miss a week of school, short term memory is shot but should return for the most part. Banged up, big knot on his head, lots of road rash, fairly severe concussion, but otherwise good for the next 100,000 miles. He stayed overnight in the hospital for observation, just in case, but he did fine and is home today...and now hopefully he'll pay better attention when I tell him NOT to ride in the back of a pickup truck.
I called the local DirecTV office, gave the details, and the manager was sure he could track down this specific driver because I knew the exact time and location. He would not, however, divulge a name. Figures. I also called DirecTV headquarters to get it on their record as well. This idiot doesn't deserve to be able to walk, much less drive. Not likely I'll ever learn what happens to him, if anything...but maybe I will.
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"We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all."-- Theodore Roosevelt
That's exactly why MI does not allow people in the back of open vehicles out on the roadways. Your son was very lucky, as was that TV guy, because I would have kicked his azz just like you would have if I could have caught up with him!
It is the same way here as MI except no riders without seat belts period. This law, even though I do not care for it, helps to prevent most of this stuff from happening.
Unbelieveable.......
