My wife and I were reminiscing about past New Year’s Eves when I reminded her of the night I was to get off work at 6 p.m. and we were going to a party. This was back in the late 70’s. I was assigned duty on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to just patrol the highway between two mile marker posts. At about 5:15, I got a call on my radio of an accident with injuries at mile marker xxx. Go with Code 2, meaning lights and siren.
It had started snowing (actually sleeting) just past noon that day. About 2:00 p.m., it had changed to snow. When I arrived, lucky me, I was the first cop on the scene so I had charge of the scene until the Sgt. arrived. I reported that we had a Greyhound bus, 2 Semis and I thought 3 cars. Later, we learned that there were 4 cars. One car was pinned under one of the semis. I was almost positive that we were going to have fatalities. I called Dispatch and ordered as many ambulances as possible to the scene, but no less than 5. I then quickly had the Dispatcher call my wife and tell her to ahead and if I got home in time, I would join her at the party.
As it ended up, we had 3 fatalities, including a baby, which was being held by its mother in the front seat of a car. We also had 6 others in critical condition and 15 others in unknown condition from the bus. The one truck driver walked away with minor scratches, but his right upper leg was bleeding very badly because a piece of the shifting lever broke off and hit an artery. I thought he was going to bleed out before the EMT’s arrived. He was very lucky. I quickly put a tourniquet around his leg, which I didn’t know was not recommended, but the EMT drivers told me it probably saved his life and of course, I received a commendation for doing that.
We had the Pike closed until almost 10 p.m. that night and traffic was backed up for over 4 miles. Unfortunately, back then, we didn’t have the cement blocks for a median, instead, we used steel rails, so there were a lot of cars stuck waiting until we could clear the accident area. We do things different today. And that’s how I spent New Year’s Eve 1977. I never made it to the party, but I really wasn’t in a mood to party after that accident and having to cut people out of their vehicles. The Greyhound bus started the accident when the driver lost control on a curve. I don’t think any charges were filed against the driver.
The really sad part was that the driver of the car with the baby in it was going to get off at the next exit, which was only 2 miles ahead. They were headed home from a relative’s home where they had celebrated Christmas again because the couple were shut ins due to health reasons and couldn’t attend the family’s get-together on Christmas Day.
I attended the baby’s funeral 4 days later. The parents were still in a lot of emotional pain, understandably. I had learned that the family had no insurance on the child and really didn’t have much at all, so I asked the funeral home to take care of giving the child a proper burial and give me a few weeks to pay. I took up collections in the Barracks and I asked a lot of the stores in the area to put out a box for collection.
The people gave willingly and we collected more than needed and the money left over went to the family. The funeral home only charged what they used in materials. The baby was laid to rest in a beautiful white and chrome coffin. We had to buy a lot, a vault (PA law) and pay the cemetery charges, plus flowers. The funeral, to my surprise, was well attended. I checked with the other families that suffered a fatal family member and they all had insurance. My wife took care of the arrangements. I was proud of my fellow Pennsylvanians.
So, if you are going out tonight, remember to drive sensibly and if you must drink, don’t drive. Drive defensively tonight more so than usual.
It had started snowing (actually sleeting) just past noon that day. About 2:00 p.m., it had changed to snow. When I arrived, lucky me, I was the first cop on the scene so I had charge of the scene until the Sgt. arrived. I reported that we had a Greyhound bus, 2 Semis and I thought 3 cars. Later, we learned that there were 4 cars. One car was pinned under one of the semis. I was almost positive that we were going to have fatalities. I called Dispatch and ordered as many ambulances as possible to the scene, but no less than 5. I then quickly had the Dispatcher call my wife and tell her to ahead and if I got home in time, I would join her at the party.
As it ended up, we had 3 fatalities, including a baby, which was being held by its mother in the front seat of a car. We also had 6 others in critical condition and 15 others in unknown condition from the bus. The one truck driver walked away with minor scratches, but his right upper leg was bleeding very badly because a piece of the shifting lever broke off and hit an artery. I thought he was going to bleed out before the EMT’s arrived. He was very lucky. I quickly put a tourniquet around his leg, which I didn’t know was not recommended, but the EMT drivers told me it probably saved his life and of course, I received a commendation for doing that.
We had the Pike closed until almost 10 p.m. that night and traffic was backed up for over 4 miles. Unfortunately, back then, we didn’t have the cement blocks for a median, instead, we used steel rails, so there were a lot of cars stuck waiting until we could clear the accident area. We do things different today. And that’s how I spent New Year’s Eve 1977. I never made it to the party, but I really wasn’t in a mood to party after that accident and having to cut people out of their vehicles. The Greyhound bus started the accident when the driver lost control on a curve. I don’t think any charges were filed against the driver.
The really sad part was that the driver of the car with the baby in it was going to get off at the next exit, which was only 2 miles ahead. They were headed home from a relative’s home where they had celebrated Christmas again because the couple were shut ins due to health reasons and couldn’t attend the family’s get-together on Christmas Day.
I attended the baby’s funeral 4 days later. The parents were still in a lot of emotional pain, understandably. I had learned that the family had no insurance on the child and really didn’t have much at all, so I asked the funeral home to take care of giving the child a proper burial and give me a few weeks to pay. I took up collections in the Barracks and I asked a lot of the stores in the area to put out a box for collection.
The people gave willingly and we collected more than needed and the money left over went to the family. The funeral home only charged what they used in materials. The baby was laid to rest in a beautiful white and chrome coffin. We had to buy a lot, a vault (PA law) and pay the cemetery charges, plus flowers. The funeral, to my surprise, was well attended. I checked with the other families that suffered a fatal family member and they all had insurance. My wife took care of the arrangements. I was proud of my fellow Pennsylvanians.
So, if you are going out tonight, remember to drive sensibly and if you must drink, don’t drive. Drive defensively tonight more so than usual.
