Times Advocate, 1989-06-21, Page 28This
could happen anywhere in
This article was written by Dale
Martel, with the Campbell River,
B.C. R.C.M.P. Marine Division.
Reprinted with permission.
B.C. - This is an open letter to
all parents of -all young people eve-
rywhere. I am writing in response
to some of- the questions you ask
me daily. I am not one police offi-
cer, but I represent every officer in
every city and town in Canada.
You may .know me only as the
cop who gave you a ticket last
summer, but I am also the guy who
lives down the street from you. I
am the parent of three children and I
share with you the same hopes, am-
bitions and dreams that you have
for your children. 'I am faced with
the same problems as you have. I
share with you those moments of
agony and ecstasy. I share with
you the feeling of guilt, shame or
disappointment when my boy or
girl gets into trouble.
The scene is a long stretch of
highway with a sharp curve at one
end. It had been raining and the
roads were slick. A car travelling
in excess of 126 km/h missed the
curve and plowed into an embank-
ment where it became airborne and
struck a tree. At this point, two of
the three young persons were hurled
from the vehicle, one into the road-
way, where the car landed on him,
snuffing out his life like a discarded
cigarette on the asphalt. He is
killed instantly and he is the lucky
one.
The girl thrown into the tree has
her neck broken and although she
was voted queen of the senior prom,
and most likely to succeed, she will
now spent the next 60 years in a
wheelchair. Unable to do anything
else, she will live and relive that
terrible moment over again many
times.
When I arrive, the car has come
to rest on its top, the broken
wheels have stopped spinning.
Smoke and steam pour out of the
engine ripped from its mounting by
a terrible force. An eerie calm has
settled over the scene and it appears
deserted except for lone lone travel-
ler who called it in.
He is sick to his stomach, lean-
ing against his car for support. The
driver is conscious but in shock and'
unable to free himself from under
the bent steering column. His face
will be forever scarred by deep cuts
from broken glass and jagged metal.
Those cuts will heal, but the ones
inside cannot be touched by the sur -
Times -Advocate, June 21, 1989 Page 29
any cornmunity
geon's scalpel.
The third passenger has almost
stopped bleeding, the seat and his
clothing are covered in -blood from
an artery cut in his arm by the
broken bone that protrudes from his
forearm just below the elbow. His
breath comes in short g• he
tries desperately to . air pa. ' is
blood-filled airway. He is unable
speak and his eyes, bulged and fixed
on me pleadingly, are the only
communications that he is terrified
and wants my help. I feel a pang of
guilt and recognize him as a boy I
let off with•a warning ,the other
night for an open container of alco-
hol inhiscar. Maybe if I had cited
him then, he wouldn't be here now.
Who knows? I don't.
He died soundlessly in my arms,
his pale blue eyes staring vacantly,
as if trying to sec into the future he
Refreshments - Elsie Hermann, June Essery and Marian Rider of
the Alpha Tau Sorority Chapter serve refreshments at Heritage
Days, Saturday.
A better dog - The First Exeter Scouts set up their hot dog booth
for Heritage Days, taking full advantage of an awning to stay
open right through Saturday's rain storm. Here Shawn McCurdy
(left), David Morlock, and Jeff Bowen make sure a customer's
creation is just right.
will never have. I remember watch-
ing him play basketball and wonder
what will happen to the scholarship
he will never use. Dully my mind
focuses on a loud scream and I iden-
tify it as the girl who was thrown
from the vehicle. I race to her with
_ a blan et, but I am afraid to move
her.•
ead is tilted at an exaggerat-
ed angle. She seems unaware of
my presence there and whimpers for
her mother like a little child: In she
distance, I hear the ambulance wind-
ing its way through the rainy night.
I am filled with incredible grief at
the waste of so valuable a'resource,
our youth.
I am sick with anger and frustra-
tion with parents and leaders who
thing a little bit of alcohol wbn't
hurt anything. I am filled with
contempt for people who propose
lowering the drinking age because
they will get booze anyway, so
why not make it legal. I am frus=
tratcd with laws, court rulings and
other legal maneuvering that re-
stricts my ability to, do my job,
preventing this kind of tragedy. .
The ambulance begins the job of
scraping up and removing the dead
and injured. I stand by, watching as
hot tears mingle with rain and drip
off my checks.
I will spend several hours on re-
ports anti several months trying to
erase from my memory the details
of that night. I will not be alone.
The driver will recover and spend
the rest of his life trying to forget. I
know the memory of this fatal acci-
dent will be diluted and mixed with
other similar accidents I will be
called in to cover.
Yes, I am angry, and sick at heart
with trying to do my job and being
tagged the bad guy. I pray to God
that I might never have to face an-
other parent in the _night and say
your daughter Susan, or your son
Bill, has just been killed in a car ac-
cident.
You ask me, why did this hap-
pen?
It happened because a young per-
son,
stoned out of his mind,
thoughtthat he could handle two
tons of hurtling death at 128 km/h.
It happened because an adult, try-
ing to be a "good guy" bought for
or sold to some minor a case of
beer. '
I1 happened because you as par-
ents weren't concerned. enough
about your child to know where he
was and what he 'was doing; and •
you were unconcerned about minors
and alcohol abuse and would rather
-blame me for harassing them when
1 was only trying to prevent this
kind of tragedy:
It happened because, as people
say, you believe this kind of thing •
only happens to someone else.•
For your sake I hope it doesn't
happen to you, but if you continue
to regard alcohol abuse as part of
growing up, then please keep your
porch light on because some cold, •
rainy night, you will find me at
your doorstep, staring at my feet
with a message of death for you.
Exeter Police Chief Larry Hardy
asked the T -A to reprint this article.
Ile believes that, from a policing.
perspective, this applies to .•ny
community. •
Graduate - Larry W. McCarter
graduated on June 14, 1989
from Fanshawe College, Lon-
don,- having completed the
Construction Technical Super-
visor course. He has accepted a
position with Victorian Manage:
ment in London as quantity es-
timator. Larry is the son of Gord
and Marg McCarter, RR1 Hen-
sall.
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