At The Crash Scene

I’ve started writing this newsletter several times trying to find a way to tell the story of this photo where Westerville firefighters and a police officer quietly discuss a motorcycle crash that took the life of a woman Wednesday afternoon.

That’s the simple story.

It was mid-afternoon. A line of cars snaked through a portion of the St. Paul Catholic Church parking lot to pick up plants and flowers from the school’s annual garden sale. This year’s sale was larger than last year’s which meant more cars through the lot.

The school had been dismissed a few minutes before the crash. Parents played with their children in the nearby playground. Some parents waited in their cars for children participating in after-school activities.

The parking lot is usually quiet. The church sits back from State Street uphill from the road. The parking lot is shielded from road noise by trees planted across the parking lot islands and along the front of the property.

A fire chief said he knew it was a bad crash by the number of calls he heard ringing in the background on his radio while the 911 dispatcher sent police and fire to the scene.

She was learning to ride the motorcycle. Her teacher was her father who was instructing her in the parking lot of St. Paul Church on North State. A police officer said she lost control of the motorcycle striking a curb and launching the bike across a road at the church. The bike ended up striking a tree ejecting her. Despite wearing a helmet, she suffered a head injury.

Sometimes, when I arrive at the scene of a crash a police officer or firefighter will come to me to tell me the injury is severe. They do it out of respect for the victim and to keep me informed. This was one of those times. I usually don’t stay very long at this type of scene. I try to concentrate on photos of first responders doing what they are trained for. Photos of a distressed victim are not among the photos I require.

I’m always amazed watching the medics, firefighters, and police in severe crashes. It seems everything is moving in slow motion. The first responders have a well-choreographed dance where each has a task that shares a purpose with the others. They are intertwined yet independent.

Today I witnessed the gentleness with which they quietly lifted the injured woman onto the stretcher. How they shared the weight of her body gliding it into position for the mechanical chest compression machine to work properly. Deliberately loaded into the medic, they steadied her movement as the vehicle left the parking lot for St. Ann’s Hospital.

I returned later in the afternoon as the crash investigation team marked, measured, and recorded the particulars of the crash scene. The department’s drone used flight guidance software to record a three—dimensional map of the scene. Soon everyone left, the crash scene cleared.

It was now quiet again in the parking lot.

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