Wednesday, August 08, 2007

When do you stop to help?

On the way to work this morning, just before 8am, I saw a man, may just be a kid really, dying from what appeared to be a gunshot wound in the left side of his head. Traffic slowed, but moving. Many people were looking, too shocked perhaps, or knowing that he was going to die of his wound. I usually sit behind the driver in the company car, and as we passed by that kid (must have been buying something from that sari-sari store when he was shot), I shifted towards the right side of the car to see a better view, thinking that the kid was already dead. He wasn't. But only near death. We did not stop any more. Should we have stopped? Get him to the hospital?

I've seen dead people, from accidents, etc. I was in the bedside of a boy many years ago in the regional hospital ER (our former company driver hit him earlier in the day), operating the ambo bag. He was dying too. When the chief resident arrived, he declared him dead. Today was quite different. I did not see that kid die, but I knew he wasn't going to make it. A murder victim isn't quite the same as a victim of a car accident.

I heard that police aren't ruling out "fraternity-related".

No comments: