Gabe Tollin Tollin 1 ENC 1101 July 12, 2009 Memoir/Dr. Donnelly Blind Sided! It’s amazing how in life I could be doing everything right and not making any mistakes, but one idiot who does make a mistake completely changed my life. I remember pulling out of my driveway, and Amber my girlfriend was already asleep. She was tired that night and passed out literally seconds after sitting down and buckling her seatbelt.
I find it very difficult to keep myself strong, watching young men around my age falling on top of each other. Tears rolled down my eyes as I watch stray bullets fly pas me and strike into the skulls of others. At times, I wish a bullet would have already claimed my life before this whole nightmare
We thought someone was out in our back yard so we ran to tell our mother. Our step-dad went outside to investigate when he saw a police car go by and announce over his loud speaker to evacuate immediately there was a 20 foot wall of water coming down the canyon. We hurried and got in our car wearing only our pajamas, and drove to our neighbors. Our neighbors lived at the top of a big hill. I remember going out on the balcony and hearing all kinds of horrific noises.
On their way to the cottage they were struck by an oncoming vehicle that had swerved into their lane hitting the passenger side where she was seating. Upon impacted, as a result of the person who was seating directly behind Sarah and not wearing a seat-belt, was thrown with such force that he crushed the back of her sit, he had also fell on top of her snapping her seat-belt into two, which threw her head first into the windshield. Fire Fighters got them out by cutting through their vehicle. by then it was a fight to save their lives, Sarah was in a coma, and her brain activity was very low. She talked about her near death experience, and mentioned the fatality as well.
“It was a fine moment, standing there sweaty in my T-shirt and bunkers, with this beautiful woman hugging me, and me remembering her spearmint kisses that first night on the basketball bus.” This quote is after Perry helps Tracy, a young girl who was driving too fast around Jabowski’s Corner and was in fatal shape. Perry and the rest of the EMTs did as much as they possibly could until a helicopter came to take Tracy to a larger hospital thirty minutes away. The locals could only do so much, and then it was time to let the “professionals” do the rest. After the accident Perry walked past a long row of cars that were backed up due to the accident. As Perry walks thinking to himself about what just happened a lady jumps out of her car and yells Michael’s name.
The car misses the student but slides and crashes into the pole for the traffic signal. Terry and Shaun are hurt but survive as both were restrained by their seat belts in the front bucket seats. However, Jane was sitting in the back and was not wearing her lap belt (she hated lap belts and they did not fit right with her skirt). Jane was ejected from the car and
We’re going to be late.” So I slowly drug myself out of bed because I had a restless night. As I put my softball shirt on “Hurry if you want to see Trevor before the games start” my mom said. So I hurried as fast as I could as she chuckled. It was a usual Saturday morning.
Brandon was thrown 25 feet, chipping a disc in his back and cutting his head. Jake Tallo broke his left arm when the car landed on it. Steven was thrown from the middle of the backseat into the dashboard, snapping his neck and killing him instantly. Thomas, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, did not get tossed out. He was crushed when the car flipped several times -- literally -- and is now paralyzed from the waist down.
In a 3 second moment that seemed to move in slow motion, I grabbed the wheel tight, and then blacked out upon impact with the truck. I remember yelling very loudly out loud to myself expletives I’d never spoken before. I actually recall the Chevy hood ornament before we hit, head-on. The truck and the car were totaled in 3 seconds. The driver, although he saw me, could do nothing to avoid me.
I started to go fast, up to about 85 mph. I tried to go around some brush, but when I swerved the ATV flipped over onto it's side, throwing Jamie off first. Then I slid headfirst into an Austrailian Pine tree. Jamie called her boyfriend Dustin and another friend Mike heard the accident. They came to where we were as fast as they could.