Tragedy on the highway

Early Thursday morning, I may have cheated death.

I was driving home from a late night shift, when I noticed that the semi truck in front of me abruptly slowed.

I saw a man in the middle of the street waving me down. Then I saw a car, mangled beyond recognition, in the center of the highway. Beyond that car, there were two more. One was smashed up on the front end with steam shooting out into the air. The third, about 20 feet away from that one, had come to rest upside down.

Having no place else to go — the highway was completely blocked by debris — the semi truck pulled off onto the shoulder and I followed.

My first concern was that the wrecked car that was beside me, might explode. I looked around at the ground for any sign of a gasoline leak. Seeing none, I relaxed a bit, and decided to see if I could be of assistance.

I got out of my truck and heard the sound of a dual horn blaring. It was coming from the overturned car. A man was running around in panicked frenzy. I learned that he had been in the second car.

The man who had occupied the overturned car was leaning against the semi truck in front of me. His head and shoulders were covered with red, as the blood poured forth. I noticed that his belt was undone. I figured that that had been necessary to facilitate his exit from his demolished automobile. Though he was alive and standing, he didn't appear to be in good shape.

A truck driver pulled up behind my pickup truck. The driver approached and we began to talk. He had been headed for Toledo, but the understanding set in that he would be late for his deadline. At some point, someone else approached and the three of us were talking.

I learned from witnesses that the first car that I had passed had been going the wrong way on the highway and had smashed into the 18-wheeler that was ahead of the one in front of me.

As we spoke, my attention went to the car that initiated the accident. No one had approached that car, since my arrival. I asked the trucker who was on my left if anyone was inside. He replied that he thought that someone had exited the vehicle. I told him that I didn't think anyone had.

The man on my right asked if anyone had a flashlight. I always carry a flashlight on my belt for use at work. I pulled it out and the three of us proceeded to approach the badly mangled vehicle.

I shined the light into the car and we discovered that the driver was, indeed, still inside. His body had been shoved from the front seat almost into the back by the force of the impact. I saw his face. His mouth was open; his eyes appeared to be shut. The trucker on my left called out, "Hey, buddy, are you all right in there?"

There was no response.

Then, I took a few steps to my right to get a better look. Though I had somewhat prepared myself for a gory scene, no one can ever be prepared to see what I saw. I shined the light up at the man's head again. It was then that I noticed that there was a huge part of the man's head that was missing. The guy on my right gasped and uttered an expletive of shock. I turned the light away. But hardly being able to believe what I had seen, I raised the light back to the guy's head for a second look. Again, the terrible reality. "He's gone", I said simply.

I took out my cell phone. The authorities had already been notified, I had been told. But I called the newsroom at work to have them send a photographer out and get the video of the scene for the morning show. I could hardly concentrate on which buttons to push to make the call. Somehow, I managed.

I learned later from the news that the man had been a restaurant owner.

When the police and fire departments finally arrived, I sat and watched as they searched the wreckage and the nearby fields for additional debris for their investigation.

As I sat with the windows down, swatting at mosquitos and letting the rain soak my head and arms, the realization hit me.

I had been seconds away from the crash, when it happened. I arrived a moment later.

As I had prepared to leave work earlier, a co-worker of mine had arrived. I had stood in the parking lot for just a few minutes talking to her. It wasn't very long of a delay, but it had been sufficient enough to prevent me from being right in the center of the crash as it happened. Had I not been delayed for those few short minutes, I might well have suffered a drastically different fate.

I watched as numerous police officers and fire officials set up cones, fired up their generators, got a body bag for the deceased man, and the ambulance prepared to take away the injured.

And I wondered for what purpose had I been spared the sting of death this night; for surely the hand of the Almighty was upon me.