I did a thing!

"cabarne4" (cabarne4) 06/26/2014 at 01:28 • Filed to: None

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Cutting to the chase, I pretty much saved 4 people's lives a few hours ago. Adrenaline is still going from it all.

So I took the red Titan to Tennessee to go pick up a new trailer. On the way back, some semi trucks flipped over and I-40 got closed. So I found a little 2 lane road that would scoot me around the wreck. I was driving behind a minivan, when a deer appeared out of nowhere.

The minivan hit the deer, lost control, went off the right side of the road, rolled down a hill, and landed upside down in a creek. I stopped the truck, took off my boots / socks, emptied my pockets, grabbed a rope from the truck, tied it to the winch strap on the trailer, and ran down the hill. Another guy that stopped went down with me, and a 3rd person called 911.

We waded across the creek over to the van. Got the back hatch open and pulled two young girls out (probably around 5 and 7). I carried them both across the creek into the arms of some more people who had reached the bank. Got back to the van and helped pull open the sliding door. A 3rd girl (about 12 or 13) couldn't get her belt off. We cut it off and pulled her out and helped her across.

The girls were all crying that their mother was still in there. The front end was completely submerged, and red stuff (which I later realized was ATF) was spreading out across the water. I went underwater, put my upper body into the van, reached towards the driver's seat, and grabbed the mom's shoulder. She grabbed my arm. I pulled her towards me and got her head back above the water. She was choking for air and crying for her daughters.

We got her back up the bank to the road where her daughters were all waiting. By then police and EMTs were showing up on scene (one of the people who stopped happened to be an off-duty EMT as well). They were all way shaken up, but for the most part fine. The mother had a small cut on her foot, and one of the daughters had a mild concussion. Can't believe there were no more serious injuries.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 01:33

2

Good for you, If only there were more people like you in the world. Seriously, pat yourself on the back

cabarne4 > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 06/26/2014 at 01:35

3

Haha thanks I guess. I figure anyone else would've done it... I just can't believe it happened. Seems so surreal.


Afterwards, I walked into Walmart barefoot and dripping wet, and bought dry clothes without saying a word to the cashier... They probably thought I was on something.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 01:37

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Not many people can think and act as quick as you did in a situation like that. And to the walmart comment... LOL

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 01:43

1

You saved lives today. Seriously, good on you.

I'd be scared if I was ever put in that situation. I'd probably freeze up and not know what to do. It's awesome that you acted so swiftly.

I think I understand why my girlfriend is terrified of deers now.

cabarne4 > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 06/26/2014 at 01:44

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Yeah looking back, I think it was a little weird that I didn't even think about going in the water. My first thought was literally "I should leave my phone and wallet in the truck so they don't get messed up when I go in."

My family reacts pretty well in crisis though, I guess. No sense in getting panicked, and you can cry about shit later. When there's people in a van underwater, you've got less than a few minutes to do something... I don't see the point in wasting time.

It was a pretty heart stopping moment seeing the ATF (which looked like blood) spreading across the water, as 3 young girls cried for their mom... Such a relief pulling her out of there.

...And when I bought dry clothes, I got a swim suit. I figured I should be more prepared next time. Hahaha

cabarne4 > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 06/26/2014 at 01:46

1

Yeah it was pretty crazy. I didn't even see the deer until after the van hit it. While I swerved around it, the van went down the hill and into the water.

Priorities were pretty straight forward though. Get down there, bring a rope of sorts. Luckily I had literally just picked up that trailer, and it has some big winches on it. Once everyone was back up the hill, I texted our plant manager with "The new trailer is so awesome, it's already saved 4 lives!"

pdthedeuce > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 01:49

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good job !

cabarne4 > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 01:53

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I had posted this to facebook not too long before the accident. I was on I-40 westbound originally, but had to detour because of the truck accident. Wound up on 412 (where the blue dot is in that pic), and then on US-79 towards Brownsville. This happened maybe 5 miles before Brownsville on US-79. To think, if I hadn't decided to detour, I wouldn't have been there.

Soloburrito > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 02:10

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Holy crap that's nuts! Good job, man!

Soloburrito > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 02:23

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http://www.wbbjtv.com/news/local/Dea…

The details in the news story compared to what you recounted makes me seriously question local news stories now.

cabarne4 > Soloburrito 06/26/2014 at 02:26

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If that was a beaver, it was god damn massive. Literally took up half the lane, and was very deer-like in appearance.

Also, 2 adults and 2 children? It was a mom and her 3 daughters... and the oldest of the daughters still looked to be pre-teen.

Edit: Also, "A" good Samaritan... There were two of us actively getting people out of the van, another 4 or 5 on the bank helping people up, 1 or 2 on the phone with 911... Definitely more than one of us.

Big Bubba Ray > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 02:35

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Holy shit that's scary. You're a good man. That's extremely brave.

WELL DONE.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 02:52

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Awesome job! You saved some lives and made the world a better place...pretty inspiring.

I was in a bad accident once—the good Samaritans made a hell of a difference, and I'll always be grateful to them.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 04:05

0

oh my god... That's like a scene from a movie! Good job sir! I salute your bravery and proper behavior!

Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 04:07

2

You have all my respects.

AthomSfere > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 06:08

1

Thank you! My feel good news item of the day.

BJ > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 06:50

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Good job, you did the right thing.

You're more clear-headed than most. I'm sure that if I had done the same thing, I would have left my phone and wallet in my pockets, and then wondered how to call for help afterwards... :)

Sn210 > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 07:16

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Holy shit! You're a hero now! Great job

thebigbossyboss > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 07:32

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Have yourself a beer, you deserve it.

cabarne4 > Sn210 06/26/2014 at 08:03

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Sweet prize! I think it's a Bugatti? I should avoid seagulls.

cabarne4 > BJ 06/26/2014 at 08:04

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Yeah, it was definitely an odd first thought. Funny thing was, it didn't look too deep originally, so I thought I would get away with rolling up my jeans and not get too wet. First step and I was waste deep. Oops. Glad I took my boots off, though. Bottom was nothing but calf-deep mud. They would've been gone for sure.

cabarne4 > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power 06/26/2014 at 08:07

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I swear my life is an action movie. I was originally planning to post a rant to Oppo about crazy drivers, but then this happened and kind of trumped what happened that morning.

Long story short, on two separate occasions in two separate states, someone merged in on me, I honked, and they took it as a sign to follow me for miles, brake checking me, swerving into me, running me off the road, etc... Yesterday was ridiculous.

cabarne4 > NotUnlessRoundIsFunny 06/26/2014 at 08:14

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My whole family was in a bad accident almost 10 years ago, the kind where everyone should have died. We figure we still have a lot of paying back to do. Would've definitely been a different outcome if nobody was around to stop for our accident. My dad always says the number one technology that saved everyone's life was a cell phone. The wreck was called in about 30 seconds after it happened, and first responders were on the scene within minutes. The wreck was in rural Minnesota, so without a cell phone it would've taken forever to get an ambulance there.

Not to thread jack my own post too bad, but here's some pictures of our wreck... Before:

And here's an after photo. Linked to protect the weak of heart.

EL_ULY > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 09:15

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duuuuuuuuuuuuude!!!!! HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cabarne4 > EL_ULY 06/26/2014 at 09:34

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It was crazy haha... Got back to Arkansas at around midnight. Go to work and apparently everyone's already heard somehow. I still can't believe it all happened.

EL_ULY > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 09:38

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I know man it's pretty crazy, this is hero month on OPPO for sure lol. Awesome job being a rad human!

cabarne4 > EL_ULY 06/26/2014 at 09:44

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Every time I drive somewhere crazy shit happens. I've got a 1500 mile drive back to Arizona this weekend, then I'm headed to Cali for the 4th... Seriously hoping it's a boring, unexciting drive.

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 10:16

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Damn, nice work dude!

If that happened around my area (Philly) they'd probably steal your truck as you tried to help

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > Soloburrito 06/26/2014 at 10:53

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As someone who grew up in West Tennessee, watching channel 7... Their journalism is sketchy at best.

cabarne4 > Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! 06/26/2014 at 11:03

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Jeez, that's horrible. I left it running / unlocked, in case the first responders needed to move it or anything. We were on a little 2 lane road on a built up levee. It was an entire process to move everyone to one side of the road so the ambulance could get to the scene.

Mark - Sixpots None The Richer > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 11:24

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Du bist mein Held des Tages!

cabarne4 > Mark - Sixpots None The Richer 06/26/2014 at 11:39

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Danke schoen! :)

(wish I was on my computer so I could do umlauts... damn work computer!)

Manny05x > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 13:16

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Congrats man you did the right thing. I was just having a conversation with a coworker about people that freeze up in emergency situation, im glad you were able to react quickly.

cabarne4 > Manny05x 06/26/2014 at 13:19

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Believe it or not, earlier in the day I was thinking to myself "I wonder how I'd actually react if somebody had a serious wreck right in front of me..."

A lot of people would say they would be the first to jump in, but I guess a lot of people freeze up or something. Our family has always been pretty good at dealing with shit when it hits the fan though. We had our own bad wreck about 10 years ago, we've been witnesses to other wrecks, and when Katrina came through the gulf coast we came down about 3 days after the storm.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > cabarne4 06/26/2014 at 16:24

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Holy cow! Glad you all survived and hope everyone made a full recovery.

And good on you for returning the favor...you've made the world a better place, especially for those four and their families.

cabarne4 > NotUnlessRoundIsFunny 06/27/2014 at 00:42

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Long story short, my mom's recovery from that wreck was nothing short of a miracle. We owe everything to the amazing medical team at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. 10 years later, I'd say she's recovered nearly 100%. She's got a few days where she's got to take a break or sit down, but asides from that she's her old self. My dad, oldest brother, and myself were all barely injured (dad somehow completely uninjured. I needed 3 stitches and my other brother needed 2 staples). My other brother had some internal bleeding, but was out of the hospital in like 2 weeks.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > cabarne4 06/27/2014 at 00:47

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All things considered, that's a great outcome...all the best to you and your family.

I know from experience a brush with death can change your perspective.

cabarne4 > NotUnlessRoundIsFunny 06/27/2014 at 01:01

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No doubt. We're also firm believers that healing is 90% mental, 10% physical. A good amount of my mom's recovery was due to us reminding her that she was expected to make a full recovery. We never told her the doctor's expectations, though. :)

3vil-Monkey > cabarne4 07/02/2014 at 17:57

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Good job