VX Accident in Tampa

[Jonnie]

I bought my first house friday and I have been moving stuff over to it.

Comming home tonite on a dark 4 lane road, a spanish guy wearing only shorts, ran across the median and into the roadway in front of me and he was hit by my passenger side fender after I slammed on the brakes. it was like have a deer run into the road, he was really moving.

I feel sick.

broken turn signal, crease mark, and a big dirt mark, guess he was covered in dirt for some reason. he was air lifted out.

Jonnie

[transio]

Did the medics think he'd be ok?

[transio]

PS - talk to a lawyer.

[Jonnie]

Did the medics think he'd be ok?

It seemed so. Not sure how old they thought 17/18, spoke spanish, just had shorts on, was dirty and running. The Deputies thought I had no problems. they said the road was bad and it has happened 3 times already. They guessed he was illegal, maybe up to no good. They said they had lots ot transients in that area. They really did not seem to be too worried about it.

Jonnie

[WyrreJ]

Still, talk to a lawyer. Better safe than sorry. From your abbreviated description it does sound like it could easily be a scam setup -- especially the "3 times already" part. I know that loading a bunch of people into a car and then trying to get rear-ended is a really common scam. Jumping in front of traffic like you described could easily be something similar, people who have "nothing left to lose" can do all kinds of dangerous sh|t if they think it will give them a chance at a better a future.

[thebear54]

Sorry to hear about your little run in with the local "wildlife"
Take the advise and just touch base with your attorney.
At least you are OK (hopefully the kid will be OK too) and that there is only minor damage to the VX.
John

[crager34]

I bought my first house friday and I have been moving stuff over to it.

Comming home tonite on a dark 4 lane road, a spanish guy wearing only shorts, ran across the median and into the roadway in front of me and he was hit by my passenger side fender after I slammed on the brakes. it was like have a deer run into the road, he was really moving.

I feel sick.

broken turn signal, crease mark, and a big dirt mark, guess he was covered in dirt for some reason. he was air lifted out.

Jonnie

First thing I noticed was the title of the post. Second thing was that you hit a "human being". Third, there was no mention of said human being's condition in the first post. Finally.... the complete apathay towards this human being vs. the overplaced concern for the VX.

[tomdietrying]

Yeah, I have to agree with Crager34. From your post, it reads that your more upset about the damaged VX than the damaged person.

Your VX can always be fixed.

Peace.
Tom

p.s.
Just because the person is dirty and wearing shorts doesn't mean he is up to no good. It probably means he is less fortunate than you.

[dkmiller68]

First thing I noticed was the title of the post. Second thing was that you hit a "human being". Third, there was no mention of said human being's condition in the first post. Finally.... the complete apathay towards this human being vs. the overplaced concern for the VX.


I thought the same thing. I am not being judgemental of Jonnie, just sorrow that we (including me) often have our priorities confused. If, in fact, the runner had 'nothing to lose', it shows a failure of the human condition that we let others get to that point. I think Jonnie should try to meet the person and get to understand him and his situation and see if he can help him. Jonnie has a unique opportunity to learn here. Go Jonnie Go

[Tone]

I think the wording and tone are politically and humanely incorrect. And the big question is why post this unless the VX is the only concern?

[Joe_Black]

I've had the pleasure of meeting Jonnie personally several times and also serviced his tranny too. Before jumping to conclusions about where his priorities are, take a step back and put yourself in his shoes. I'm pretty sure he felt sick from hitting a person, not the damage to the VX. He came here, his VX family, to share what happened. I can now see that if something similar ever happens to me I'll be sure to keep it off the board and just reach via email those here I know won't start knee-jerk bashing me.

Jonnie, glad to hear the guy got quick medical attention which I'm sure you're responsible for. Hope the adrenalin faded quick and things work out for you. Give a ring if you need anything!

[VCAMILO]

I've been there too! The last of my worries was the damage to my car. My first priority was the injured person. Right after that it shifted into witnesses because the pedestrian was the one at fault. All went well and I never got a call for court. Wish you the best. Next time a dear whisle would probably work best for you.

[AlaskaVX]

C'mon people! The guy jumped a median and ran in front of a car! He got what was coming!

Jonnie, did you appoligize to the dirt he was standing on? Cus the impact of the VX must have dug the guys feet in a bit, heck it could have even knocked his shoes off and exposed his dirty Spanish feet to that poor dirt.

[transio]

I don't think some of you are being fair to Johnnie. You have to understand that just because John doesn't show a lot of remorse or concern for the boy in his post does not mean that he is apathetic or has his priorities confused, as you suggest. There are many factors and occurrences between the accident and his post here that have influenced the tone of his recollection.

He has had conversations with apathetic police officers who seemingly convinced John that this kid is a scam artist or criminal. Even despite that, I highly doubt that John cares more about his truck than the kid. He simply omitted the emotions he felt from the point of the accident until he was helped to rationalize it. This is likely because he's been given a manner to suppress the emotions and doesn't want to relive the trauma by repeating everything here. Read up on PTSD.

He gave more information about the VX because he had more info at the time about the VX. All he knew about the kid was that he was airlifted out. Also, John is not the greatest writer, and didn't take care to put the information in proper order. For instance, he put the bit about the kid after the info about the VX and separated from the contextual "i feel sick." This incorrectly gives the impression that he's sick about the VX and "by the way, the kid was airlifted." Unless you believe that John is a sociopath, this is obviously not the case.

Rant over. Now, those of you who are so quick to condemn, maybe look inside and ask yourself why you choose to criticize others rather than comfort them in THEIR time of need?

[Anita]

When I read it I thought he skewed his storytelling to the subject at hand for us on the site. My next post would have been to ask how the person was.