Found a body

[Accy cyclist]

I saw a bloke lying on the path in the local cemetery last year. He had fluorescent road workers clothing on and was sprawled out on a path. Yes you've guessed it. It must've been pay day and he'd been in the pub all afternoon then fallen asleep on the way home. Still. on first impressions i thought he could be in trouble, but then after moving towards him he belched then scratched his arse.

 

[Globalti]

Very late indeed (or early) in Newcastle I was driving home on a freezing frosty night and found a young bloke in jeans and a T shirt sprawled half in the road as if a car had hit him. I couldn't detect any pulse but I put a car blanket over him and walked a few yards to a phone box and dialled 999. A few minutes later three Police Hillman Imps raced up, an officer jumped out and shook the bloke violently, at which he woke up from his drunken stupour looking bemused. They chucked him in a car and drove off. I reckon that if he was drunk enough to fall asleep on a grass verge that was stiff with frost, he owed me his life because alcohol, a thin T shirt and frost would kill you quite soon.

I've seen plenty of bodies lying in the street in Lagos, some well dressed, obviously hit by a vehicle while dashing across the road. It distresses me to think of the children, sitting at home hungry waiting for Mum or Dad to come home and never knowing what happened. Others are juju killings who have been thrown off a bridge and hit by so many vehicles that they are all over the road, quite shocking. You don't stop and get involved in any case because a lynch mob can form, blaming you.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Same thing happened to me on boxing day a few years ago, walking through some woods near a village. Found a chap lying on his back in the middle of the path. As I approached I was relieved to see that he was breathing. I knelt down and asked him if he was OK (all the time selfishly cursing him for ruining my walk, and planning my 999 call) - the smell of booze was quite overpowering. He woke up, blinked like a startled rabbit, staggered to his feet and ran away with a strange stiff-legged gait. I noticed that he had wet himself.

 

[TheJDog]

take a selfie and carry on

 

[Mo1959]

I remember coming out of work and finding someone who had died, whilst driving and his car came to rest across the gate to our yard. He could have only been gone for a couple of minutes as the cigarette in his lap had only just been lit. My colleague told me to check his pulse but his eyes were still open. Honestly, I sh*t it, in a big way. Scared stiff and daren't go near him. Looking back I am ashamed I couldn't check his pulse, but it was the first dead person I had seen and it just freaked me out.

It's not a nice experience. My worst was being first on the scene in a young girls hanging in the prison I worked in. Must be well over ten years ago now but I can still go over all my actions quite clearly. Must stick in your brain!

 

[Sandra6]

I was riding home down the riverside cycle path on a stretch behind a small retail park, also notorious for attracting drunks etc.
Up ahead, sprawled in the bushes was a man. I slowed down, almost rode past, then stopped. I called out to him, no response. I was convinced he was dead, but I didn't really want to touch him.
I was moving closer, intending to nudge him with my foot when he moved.
I asked if he was OK, he mumbled and got up. I asked if I could call someone but he managed to decline, said he was OK, and shuffled off.
If he hadn't moved I don't think I'd have actually been brave enough to check for a pulse though

 

[bigjim]

Couple of years ago, while riding the bike I came across a lady prone on the pavement. She had no pulse and I did not know how long she had been lying there. It was the day of the royal wedding and the area was deserted. A van stopped and the driver summoned help whilst I applied CPR. The paramedic got her going eventually with shock treatment in between my continuing compressions. She has made an almost complete recovery, evidently the CPR kept the brain supplied with oxygen whilst waiting for professional help. Good old NHS for once. The lady had been alone in her house but decided to go for a walk. If she had not decided to leave the house who knows what the outcome would have been.
I came home from the gym one day a few months later and she was stood at my front door with her husband. She had found out who I was and came to thank me. She just ran up and threw her arms around me. She was a lovely lady back to fine health, but has no memory of the incident. Probably a good thing.

 

[Tim Hall]

On a lighter note...

Some years back, a colleague was on her way to work, full of first aid knowledge, having just done a First Aid at Work course. She spied a man laying on the pavement, so went to render assistance. Only to find that the "casualty" was in fact perfectly healthy and examining a drain.

 

[NickWi]

I once (and thankfully only once) found a suicide by the side of the road in a layby. Basically he'd put the barrel of a shotgun under his chin and pulled the trigger. This was in the days before mobile phones and I had to leg it to the nearest house to call the police. Fortunately there was someone in and believed this long haired biker who was gasping for breath and had been thumping on their door like a madman. I'd never seen so many police cars turn up so quickly. I had to give evidence, go to the Coroners Court and all that so of thing.

Back home my parents were mortified. For me as a think skinned 18year old it was all rather a bit of an adventure.

Nowadays I'd be offered counselling, support and probably a social worker to help me cope and get over it. Then, and this was about 1980 all I got was an interested ear from my mates down the pub.

 

[BrumJim]

[QUOTE 3938475, member: 45"].....in a drab part of Birmingham .....[/QUOTE]

Tautology alert?

 

[Dutchonwheels]

I think you did the sensible thing. I suppose our instinct is to check if another human being is ok, but unfortunately, so many other factors need to be taken into account. Now just remains the question.....what was you doing in such dodgy area in the first place? No need to reply of course

 

[DRM]

Most peculiar, once again a subject on here gets discussed on Jeremy Vines show on Radio 2 the following day, he must be a secret cyclechatter.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Most peculiar, once again a subject on here gets discussed on Jeremy Vines show on Radio 2 the following day, he must be a secret cyclechatter.

What were the previous instances? "Hi and welcome to easy listening on Radio 2. Today I want you to call in if you've ever had problems with a stuck seatpost, or removing an old cotter pin. But first, something from Richard Cleyderman ..."

 

[siadwell]

A few years ago I was walking through a park with a couple of friends when we came upon a distraught old lady. She had been taking her rather elderly and overweight pooch for a walk when it had suddenly collapsed.
She asked us to help but the dog wasn't breathing and its tongue was blue. There was no way I was going to give a dog mouth to mouth so told the lady there was nothing that could be done but offered to carry it home for her. My friends followed, sniggering, as I cradled the dog in my arms and they waiting for the its post mortem bowel relaxation.