Hand_Rifle_Guy
New member
I mentioned in the Stungun thread that I found out my friends are a long way from evil. DSP is always trying to recruit good people.
Turns out they're actual, for-real, bona-fide HEROES. Kaliforny does have it's redeeming bits, scattered far and wide amongst the sludge. Diamonds in the rough, as it were.
These two guys pulled a family out of a burning car. It was a Dodge Caravan that had been smashed hard enough to make it as short as it was wide in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. Fatalities resulted. It was grim business, indeed. They drove up on the wreck literally seconds after it happened.
Would that we all had friends like these. The world would be a better place.
Luke Chapman, a.k.a Lucas the Moistie, alias Guitar Guy:
Aaron Richardson, a.k.a. Bushman, alias Bushy:
Link: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/local/3627311.htm
Posted on Tue, Jul. 09, 2002
Men help crash victims
PAIR AID RESCUE OF BOYS AFTER ENCOUNTERING WRECK ON DUMBARTON BRIDGE
By Putsata Reang
Mercury News
When Luke Chapman and his friend Aaron Richardson headed to Fremont on Saturday night after hanging out with a friend in Palo Alto, traffic was light on the Dumbarton Bridge and they figured they would reach Richardson's house by midnight.
Instead, they helped rescue two boys trapped in a wreck that killed a man and woman from Redwood City.
Chapman said Monday that as he and Richardson neared the tollbooths at the east end of the bridge, he slammed on the brakes when he saw something up ahead blocking the road, and then a small glow that looked like a flame.
Less than a half-mile from the toll plaza, a car had crashed head-on with a minivan. Flames were rising eerily off the car's engine, giving light to an otherwise dark span of the bridge.
``The only thing going through my mind was, `The car's on fire and we got to get them out,' '' said Chapman, 20, of Los Altos.
Although Chapman and about a dozen other people who stopped to help managed to pull everyone out before both cars became engulfed in fire and smoke, the late-night collision claimed two lives: Guadalupe Alvarado Ramirez, 38, of Redwood City, and Juan Garcia, believed to be 35 years old, also of Redwood City and the driver of the van.
Two other victims, a 15-year-old boy and his 10-year-old brother, who the CHP believes are Ramirez's sons, were fighting for their lives Monday -- the older child at Eden Medical Center in the Castro Valley and the younger brother at Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto. Both suffered head injuries. The CHP said it's not clear how Garcia is related to the other three.
The crash occurred around midnight Saturday when Luis Armando Hidalgo, 37, of Fremont, somehow ended up driving his 1999 Chrysler 300M west on the eastbound side. He nearly rammed into a pickup truck, driven by Maria Del Carmen Perez, 26, of Oakland, but Perez swerved to avoid him and sideswiped another car.
Minutes later, Hidalgo slammed into Garcia's minivan.
Driver arrested
Hidalgo, who suffered serious injuries including a broken femur and a crushed ankle, was taken to Stanford Medical Center where he is under arrest. He will likely be booked into Santa Rita Jail in Dublin when he is well enough to leave the hospital, a California Highway Patrol official said. Officials say Hidalgo had been drinking and faces two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, which carries a prison sentence of 10 years, and felony drunken driving and hit-and-run.
Sgt. Thereasa Polet said the CHP has received several tips, but so far nothing that would indicate how Hidalgo got on the bridge heading the wrong direction.
``The only other option is he made a wrong turn from somewhere and got himself onto the wrong side,'' Polet said.
Polet said her department was still checking whether Hidalgo has had any previous driving under the influence or other criminal charges.
The Dumbarton Bridge deaths helped make the July 4 holiday one of the deadliest in recent years. Of the 63 people who died across the state in collisions, 31 were not wearing seat belts and many had been drinking, although it is too early to determine just how many of the 63 deaths involved alcohol, said Sgt. Wayne Ziese of the CHP.
Last year, the CHP reported 38 traffic-related deaths during the July 4 weekend. This year, state officers also arrested 1,738 people -- including 220 from the Bay Area -- for drinking and driving, Ziese said.
``These numbers are a little higher than in recent history,'' Ziese said. Several factors may have skewed the statistic, such as the fact that July 4 was a four-day holiday this year for most people.
Despite drinking and driving and seat-belt campaigns, Ziese said people invariably make bad decisions.
``It still boils down to individuals taking personal responsibility,'' Ziese said.
Meanwhile, Chapman, who works as a customer service representative at a toy store, is trying to shake off the terrible images. Chapman and Richardson say they were among the first of three or four cars to come upon the crash, which had blocked all eastbound lanes of the bridge.
Victims extricated
Several people bent back pieces of metal to get to the victims, said Richardson, 27, who helps manage apartment complexes in Fremont. The 15-year-old boy was lying on top of his younger brother in the middle of the van, and Ramirez and Garcia were pinned under the dashboard, Richardson said. None appeared to be wearing their seat belts, Richardson said. Someone had already helped Hidalgo out of his car by the time Richardson and Chapman arrived.
Chapman said he has seen other car accidents, but nothing that compares to Saturday's crash.
``I felt bad for the people in there,'' Chapman said. ``They were just all in a heap on the floor . . . lifeless.''
Anyone with information about the accident should contact the CHP Hayward office at (510) 489-1500.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Putsata Reang at preang@sjmercury.com or (510) 790-7312.
*********************************************
When the guys drove up, the wife was still alive. She subsequently died at the hospital. The husband was DOA. The kids are still in critical condition as of this writing, with severe head injuries.
Friggin' drunks. There's a concrete divider running down the middle of the causeway and up onto the bridge. Somehow this clown drove down an exit lane leading to the Toll Booth, and got himself into oncoming traffic coming off the bridge at freeway speed. I hope he spends the rest of his miserable life in a wheelchair in prison as some Bad Man's Boyfriend.
These are my friends. Both of them are pretty messed up about the whole thing. Carloads of crushed people do that to you. At least they had the initiative to muster some bystanders into approaching the car. Apparently there was a lot of concern that the car was going to explode, as if this was some T.V. show.
Heroes. No doubts. An example to us all. I am proud and privileged to call them my friends.
Turns out they're actual, for-real, bona-fide HEROES. Kaliforny does have it's redeeming bits, scattered far and wide amongst the sludge. Diamonds in the rough, as it were.
These two guys pulled a family out of a burning car. It was a Dodge Caravan that had been smashed hard enough to make it as short as it was wide in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. Fatalities resulted. It was grim business, indeed. They drove up on the wreck literally seconds after it happened.
Would that we all had friends like these. The world would be a better place.
Luke Chapman, a.k.a Lucas the Moistie, alias Guitar Guy:
Aaron Richardson, a.k.a. Bushman, alias Bushy:
Link: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/local/3627311.htm
Posted on Tue, Jul. 09, 2002
Men help crash victims
PAIR AID RESCUE OF BOYS AFTER ENCOUNTERING WRECK ON DUMBARTON BRIDGE
By Putsata Reang
Mercury News
When Luke Chapman and his friend Aaron Richardson headed to Fremont on Saturday night after hanging out with a friend in Palo Alto, traffic was light on the Dumbarton Bridge and they figured they would reach Richardson's house by midnight.
Instead, they helped rescue two boys trapped in a wreck that killed a man and woman from Redwood City.
Chapman said Monday that as he and Richardson neared the tollbooths at the east end of the bridge, he slammed on the brakes when he saw something up ahead blocking the road, and then a small glow that looked like a flame.
Less than a half-mile from the toll plaza, a car had crashed head-on with a minivan. Flames were rising eerily off the car's engine, giving light to an otherwise dark span of the bridge.
``The only thing going through my mind was, `The car's on fire and we got to get them out,' '' said Chapman, 20, of Los Altos.
Although Chapman and about a dozen other people who stopped to help managed to pull everyone out before both cars became engulfed in fire and smoke, the late-night collision claimed two lives: Guadalupe Alvarado Ramirez, 38, of Redwood City, and Juan Garcia, believed to be 35 years old, also of Redwood City and the driver of the van.
Two other victims, a 15-year-old boy and his 10-year-old brother, who the CHP believes are Ramirez's sons, were fighting for their lives Monday -- the older child at Eden Medical Center in the Castro Valley and the younger brother at Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto. Both suffered head injuries. The CHP said it's not clear how Garcia is related to the other three.
The crash occurred around midnight Saturday when Luis Armando Hidalgo, 37, of Fremont, somehow ended up driving his 1999 Chrysler 300M west on the eastbound side. He nearly rammed into a pickup truck, driven by Maria Del Carmen Perez, 26, of Oakland, but Perez swerved to avoid him and sideswiped another car.
Minutes later, Hidalgo slammed into Garcia's minivan.
Driver arrested
Hidalgo, who suffered serious injuries including a broken femur and a crushed ankle, was taken to Stanford Medical Center where he is under arrest. He will likely be booked into Santa Rita Jail in Dublin when he is well enough to leave the hospital, a California Highway Patrol official said. Officials say Hidalgo had been drinking and faces two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, which carries a prison sentence of 10 years, and felony drunken driving and hit-and-run.
Sgt. Thereasa Polet said the CHP has received several tips, but so far nothing that would indicate how Hidalgo got on the bridge heading the wrong direction.
``The only other option is he made a wrong turn from somewhere and got himself onto the wrong side,'' Polet said.
Polet said her department was still checking whether Hidalgo has had any previous driving under the influence or other criminal charges.
The Dumbarton Bridge deaths helped make the July 4 holiday one of the deadliest in recent years. Of the 63 people who died across the state in collisions, 31 were not wearing seat belts and many had been drinking, although it is too early to determine just how many of the 63 deaths involved alcohol, said Sgt. Wayne Ziese of the CHP.
Last year, the CHP reported 38 traffic-related deaths during the July 4 weekend. This year, state officers also arrested 1,738 people -- including 220 from the Bay Area -- for drinking and driving, Ziese said.
``These numbers are a little higher than in recent history,'' Ziese said. Several factors may have skewed the statistic, such as the fact that July 4 was a four-day holiday this year for most people.
Despite drinking and driving and seat-belt campaigns, Ziese said people invariably make bad decisions.
``It still boils down to individuals taking personal responsibility,'' Ziese said.
Meanwhile, Chapman, who works as a customer service representative at a toy store, is trying to shake off the terrible images. Chapman and Richardson say they were among the first of three or four cars to come upon the crash, which had blocked all eastbound lanes of the bridge.
Victims extricated
Several people bent back pieces of metal to get to the victims, said Richardson, 27, who helps manage apartment complexes in Fremont. The 15-year-old boy was lying on top of his younger brother in the middle of the van, and Ramirez and Garcia were pinned under the dashboard, Richardson said. None appeared to be wearing their seat belts, Richardson said. Someone had already helped Hidalgo out of his car by the time Richardson and Chapman arrived.
Chapman said he has seen other car accidents, but nothing that compares to Saturday's crash.
``I felt bad for the people in there,'' Chapman said. ``They were just all in a heap on the floor . . . lifeless.''
Anyone with information about the accident should contact the CHP Hayward office at (510) 489-1500.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Putsata Reang at preang@sjmercury.com or (510) 790-7312.
*********************************************
When the guys drove up, the wife was still alive. She subsequently died at the hospital. The husband was DOA. The kids are still in critical condition as of this writing, with severe head injuries.
Friggin' drunks.
There's a concrete divider running down the middle of the causeway and up onto the bridge. Somehow this clown drove down an exit lane leading to the Toll Booth, and got himself into oncoming traffic coming off the bridge at freeway speed. I hope he spends the rest of his miserable life in a wheelchair in prison as some Bad Man's Boyfriend.These are my friends. Both of them are pretty messed up about the whole thing. Carloads of crushed people do that to you. At least they had the initiative to muster some bystanders into approaching the car. Apparently there was a lot of concern that the car was going to explode, as if this was some T.V. show.
Heroes. No doubts. An example to us all. I am proud and privileged to call them my friends.