I don’t know if he would be thought of as a hero, a good Samaritan, or a decent human being. I think what he did went well above and beyond what the average person would do. I doubt other than a few of us, her family, and the police, no one else knows what happened and his part in it.

He is not much to look at. Tall, thin, some health problems that would make most people look away, or pretend they can not see him. You know how people look avoiding looking. They would mistake him for being homeless I think; not that he gives a hoot what people think.

It happened at an intersection of course, in busy city traffic. He looked when he heard the noise, mostly because he was only a few feet away. He saw the suv rolling over, the woman who was launched from the suv, and the end result.

He was not sure how it happened, only how it ended. He told me he had some experience as a medic. I am guessing that is from serving in the military, but maybe not, as I am only guessing where he had time to pick up medical training.

The suv swerved for somehow hit the curb, and careened away rolling over. The jolt of hitting the curb threw the driver out the window, or perhaps it was through the window, he was understandably a little fuzzy on that detail. The young woman was not wearing a seat belt – probably because suv’s are ‘safe’.

Somehow, while the woman lay on the ground, the suv’s wheels turned sharply, and it went into a roll. When it stopped, upside down, the lower half of the woman’s upper body down to her feet were between the vehicle and the pavement. He told me he had seen this before, but did not elaborate. I asked if he meant like the subway trains at the terminal, and he said yes, only she was being crushed from above and not the side.

What he meant was that the lower half of the woman’s upper torso was crushed by the suv’s weight. Because of this she felt no pain, and her vital signs were almost normal down to where her abdomen disappeared under the roof. He knew from experience that when they managed to lift the vehicle off of her, the lower half of her body would be an empty sack, her blood pressure would drop to nothing, and she would die almost instantly. He knew this within seconds of running to where she was to see if he could help.

He found her conscious. He asked if she knew what happened. She did, although she said she could not feel her body from the chest down. He calmly explained that she was crushed by her vehicle, and while the vehicle was on top of her, she would feel no pain.

Next he asked her if there was anyone she wanted to call, and offered her the use of his cell phone. She was very scared and asked him to call her mother. He asked her if she wanted a priest, or someone else present with her while she waited. She asked why, and he once again explained that she was crushed under the weight of the vehicle. He did not go into more detail as he became choked up himself. He said he told her what would happen when they removed the vehicle. He spoke with the mother and explained the situation, then held the phone to the woman’s ear for her.

She spoke with her Mother for about twenty five minutes he said. She made one more call of a few minutes. He said the police, and medical people were calm, and respectful. He held her head in his lap, as they lifted the vehicle off of her. His eyes teared up again, as he told me he held her as she passed, and it was all he could do for her.

He then told me he was too shaken to drive, and had someone else drive him to his home. He said he quietly took out a bottle of whiskey, poured three fingers in a large glass, and sat down in a chair.