Myself and three fellow TCDs were leaving the building. The time is approximately 7:25pm. As we were walking out of the building towards the parking lot we were having some friendly small talk when we noticed a guy lying in the grass. I muttered, "Is he ok?" because he was lying flat on his back, one arm stretched out to his side and one arm bent towards his face but not moving. All of us stopped walking and two of the others went in closer to check on him.
He was cold to the touch and stiff. His mouth was open and there was visible food particles filling it. His eyes were open and rolled back. His chest wasn't moving.
I immediately called 911 while one of the others ran back to the building to alert someone. I'm trying to remain calm while talking to the 911 dispatcher, which was unsurprisingly difficult to do when you've stumbled across another human being who appears to be dead, and give them accurate information as to who, what, and where.
Then a supervisor wandered slowly over and said something along the lines of, "Oh, he's been out there for a while, he got sent home sick. His parents were supposed to pick him up." The four of us started grilling the supervisor for more information, come to find out he had been sent home around 4 or 5pm and was last seen around 6:30pm lying in the same position he was now. It was "radioed in," but nothing more.
A member of the safety team comes running to the man and begins CPR. The mans sister, who also works here, came out shortly after and became hysterical a the sight on her unresponsive brother. She was ushered back inside by management. There is now a crowd of people leaving work gathering. I hear sirens.
The first police officer arrives at approximately 7:35pm. Our employee parking lot is located off of a perpendicular street and I tried to be clear to the dispatcher of this scenario. The officer grabs a bag from his car and rushes to the man. A second officer arrives and also goes to the man. A few minutes later the first EMS team shows up and immediately begin work. Shortly after that the ambulance arrives.
Discussions begin about who he is and how long he as been out here and why. Accusations from management fly that he was on heroin. Those of us within earshot of that chased management off. Regardless of what led this man to being passed out in grass on company property is no excuse to let another human being possibly die. Alone, outside of work, to make it worse.
After working on the man for about 15 minutes the responders pulled out a white sheet but just used it to obscure what they were doing. He was intubated and appeared to have been given a shot of adrenaline. Shortly after they loaded him onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. I don't know for sure that he was dead but based on what I witnessed and heard, even if they managed to get a pulse going he would be brain dead. I hope not but I can't help but be realistic.
The fact that an unknown number of people had to walk right past this man to get to their car to leave and no one until my co-workers and I thought to even check on him? He was dressed like someone who worked inside, loading or unloading trucks. It was hot and humid and they work those guys like dogs. Anyone with any semblance of a heart should see a person lying in the grass and think, hmm, maybe I should make sure he's OK, give him some water or something. But no, this man was left lying for hours.
Just had to get this off of my chest. I'm supposed to work tomorrow but I... don't even know. I sure can't sleep.
He was cold to the touch and stiff. His mouth was open and there was visible food particles filling it. His eyes were open and rolled back. His chest wasn't moving.
I immediately called 911 while one of the others ran back to the building to alert someone. I'm trying to remain calm while talking to the 911 dispatcher, which was unsurprisingly difficult to do when you've stumbled across another human being who appears to be dead, and give them accurate information as to who, what, and where.
Then a supervisor wandered slowly over and said something along the lines of, "Oh, he's been out there for a while, he got sent home sick. His parents were supposed to pick him up." The four of us started grilling the supervisor for more information, come to find out he had been sent home around 4 or 5pm and was last seen around 6:30pm lying in the same position he was now. It was "radioed in," but nothing more.
A member of the safety team comes running to the man and begins CPR. The mans sister, who also works here, came out shortly after and became hysterical a the sight on her unresponsive brother. She was ushered back inside by management. There is now a crowd of people leaving work gathering. I hear sirens.
The first police officer arrives at approximately 7:35pm. Our employee parking lot is located off of a perpendicular street and I tried to be clear to the dispatcher of this scenario. The officer grabs a bag from his car and rushes to the man. A second officer arrives and also goes to the man. A few minutes later the first EMS team shows up and immediately begin work. Shortly after that the ambulance arrives.
Discussions begin about who he is and how long he as been out here and why. Accusations from management fly that he was on heroin. Those of us within earshot of that chased management off. Regardless of what led this man to being passed out in grass on company property is no excuse to let another human being possibly die. Alone, outside of work, to make it worse.
After working on the man for about 15 minutes the responders pulled out a white sheet but just used it to obscure what they were doing. He was intubated and appeared to have been given a shot of adrenaline. Shortly after they loaded him onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. I don't know for sure that he was dead but based on what I witnessed and heard, even if they managed to get a pulse going he would be brain dead. I hope not but I can't help but be realistic.
The fact that an unknown number of people had to walk right past this man to get to their car to leave and no one until my co-workers and I thought to even check on him? He was dressed like someone who worked inside, loading or unloading trucks. It was hot and humid and they work those guys like dogs. Anyone with any semblance of a heart should see a person lying in the grass and think, hmm, maybe I should make sure he's OK, give him some water or something. But no, this man was left lying for hours.
Just had to get this off of my chest. I'm supposed to work tomorrow but I... don't even know. I sure can't sleep.
