Couple years back I recall readina ashocking story about a man who was killed by being crushed between the cars of a train. At least, I think it was the cars of a train, maybe just cars…it doesn’t matter, this is the tale and the question:
The guy was crushed low in the abdomen, completely destroyed below the waist. But he did not die immediately, and he was conscious, trapped between the two cars. It was determined that if the cars were separated, he would die within a few minutes because his lower half was essentially gone, and the only thing keeping him alive were the cars, which basically prevented him from bleeding to death. According to what I read, his wife was fetched to come and say goodbye to him.
Now, here’s the question:
If this story is true (and I seem to recall it came from a reputable source) what the hell did they do? Just wait for the guy to die from having a crushed abdomen, which could take…I don’t know how long…hours? Did they pump him with drugs? Did he say goodbye to his wife and then ask them to separate the cars to let him die?
Whether that story is true or not, if something like that happened, what would be the procedure? Is it possible that someone’s lower body could be thusly destroyed, yet held together, leaving them alive but unable to be moved for * days * ? Are there rules for this kinda thing? Would it be illegal/unethical to remove a person from such a predicament, knowing it would kill them quick? Are we forced to let them die slow? Or would separating the cars be the equivalent of “shutting off life support”?
I had a Google search going (something like “abdomen crushed cars”) and found some info on a 1903 accident of a miner crushed between two mining cars (died after 12 hours) and a teenager crushed between two train cars in 1929. Then my server went down. Damn.
Sorry, Stoid. Can’t seem to pick up where I left off. Could the UL have been based on news stories like the above?
In the very first episode of HBO’s Taxicab Confessions (IIRC), there was a NYC rescue squad worker who related a similar story from the first hand perspective of being a participant or observer in the “rescue” work.
In his story, the man had fallen or had been pushed off the platform and been struck by the train, with his body being trapped in the narrow space between the train and the platform. The guy telling the story twisted the neck of a plastic bag to illustrate how he said the victims lower half was spun by the train sealing his organs (for the moment) into his still conscious upper half. Like Stoid’s version, the station was cleared, family brought in for goodbyes, and the man died when the train was lifted off him.
It was a gruesome story, but when I retold it to a friend who is a doctor, my friend thought the rescue guy could have been full of shit. He thought it unlikely that someone could be that mangled and still be conscious and coherent for an indefinite period of time. Im surprised that that sensational a story wasn’t big news. So maybe its a UL. My internet connection is screwy right now and I can’t get to the snopes site to read their take.
I read about this in a non-fiction book. I can’t remember the name of it but it was about a special police unit in New York City who are specially selected and equipped to handle unusual complex situations. The cops in this unit are selected because they are really handy guys, good with tools and equipment, and they drive heavy-duty trucks loaded with an unbelievable variety of tools and equipment to handle any possible situation.
Anyway Stoid, the most morbid horrible true-life story in the book was about a call these cops took to a New York subway station. Someone had gotten caught between the subway car and the platform. How? I don’t remember, but I think it happens if the person falls or jumps just as the train is pulling in and they get rolled along in the thin gap. Anyway, this apparently happens, if not on a regular basis, every now and then in the New York subway system.
The nasty disturbing stuff-
In the story I read in the book, one cop held the hand of the person pinched in the little gap and spoke with them…basically “don’t worry, we’re going to help you… etc.” Meanwhile, underneath the train, other cops are rolling out heavy duty garbage bags, and, when the train is jacked or tilted away from the platform, the trapped person’s insides slop out of their destroyed lower half into the garbage bags and the person dies instantly. The cop was interviewed afterwards and talked about how the victim in these situations have sustained such terrible injuries they cannot be saved. They can be alert and coherent but there is nothing that can be done to save their lives. (Nothing about last kisses or waiting for loved ones in the book, it was more like professionally assess the situation, clean up the mess, and get the trains rolling again.)
I wish I could remember the name of the book. I read so many books and I read this one about three years ago. If anyone is particularly adept at searching up books I know this much for sure: It’s non-fiction, it’s about New York City police, it’s entirely about an elite highly respected team of street cops who specialize in disaster rescues, and the pocketbook edition I read had a blue cover.
I hope this is helpful. I’m not interested enough to go to Amazon or Google or whatever and do the searching, but I think I’ve provided enough info to find the book. I promise you, this book exists.
This was also an episode of “Homicide: Life on the Street” (Why oh why did they take that off the air?)
The episode won some sort of award.
PBS aired a documentary type show chronicling the episode from inception to airing. In it, they showed the clip from the Taxicab Confessions mentioned above. The writer for Homicide said that he saw the show (TC) and wanted to make the Homicide episode of it. The logistics of production were incredible (filming after the subway shut down; getting Baltimore subway system to go along with it; changing the name of the station to a fictional one, etc.)
Any-hoo, it was an interesting documentary and a wonderful episode. It delved into the victim’s changing emotions during the crisis.
IIRC, the victim would not have lived “indefinately”, he was slowly dying from the injuries. When his heart rate, pulse and blood pressure began to drop quickly, they blew the train back from the platform and extricated him. He died as they were plopping him on the stretcher.
There may be some cable channel that shows old Homicides. If so, do try to check out this episode if it’s rebroadcast. It’s well worth it.
And exactly matches the story. Vincent D’Onofrio played the man crushed between a subway car and the platform. The pressure was the only thing keeping his blood pressure up; when he was released, he died. D’Onofrio’s character was pushed by a mentally deranged man.
Much of the episode was dedicated to two of the detectives fruitlessly looking for his girlfriend so she could say goodbye; they never found her, and while they were carting the body out she just happened to run by the scene, never knowing what had happened.
In Canada, old “Homicide” episodes are regularly shown on Showcase. Dunno if you get that in the States.
PBS aired a documentary type show chronicling the episode from inception to airing. In it, they showed the clip from the Taxicab Confessions mentioned above. The writer for Homicide said that he saw the show (TC) and wanted to make the Homicide episode of it. The logistics of production were incredible (filming after the subway shut down; getting Baltimore subway system to go along with it; changing the name of the station to a fictional one, etc.)
Any-hoo, it was an interesting documentary and a wonderful episode. It delved into the victim’s changing emotions during the crisis.
IIRC, the victim would not have lived “indefinately”, he was slowly dying from the injuries. When his heart rate, pulse and blood pressure began to drop quickly, they blew the train back from the platform and extricated him. He died as they were plopping him on the stretcher.
There may be some cable channel that shows old Homicides. If so, do try to check out this episode if it’s rebroadcast. It’s well worth it.
An incident of this type was described in The Soul of a Cop by Paul Ragonese and Berry Stainback (St. Martin’s Press 1991), an autobiographical book telling tales from the career of highly decorated NYPD detective Paul Ragonese (perhaps the book Al Zhimers remembers.
On page 179-182 (paperback) Det. Ragonese describes an incident when he was serving in the Emergency Services Unit, the NYPD’s rescue/SWAT unit. In September 1982 a man was trapped by a train in the Grand Army Plaza subway station.
The man, a Vietnam veteran, had seen injuries like this before, and knew that he would die immediately when the pressure of the train was released. He asked for a phone, calmly called his wife, smoked a cigarette, and, when the train was moved, died in Detective Ragonese’s arms.
(As an aside, Det. Ragonese was also the officer who assisted a woman trapped under a collapsed construction crane. As described in Chapter 16 of the book (pages 230-245), on May 30, 1985, Brigette Gerney’s legs were crushed under a fallen crane at 63rd Street and Third Avenue in Manhattan. Det. Ragonese climbed next to her below the unstable crane. Eventually, the crane was moved and Ms. Gerney survived, with her legs partially repaired by microsurgery.)
I remember hearing a variant of this story where a man got cut in half by closing bomb bay doors during WWII. Same routine–he was fine (except for the fact that he was missing the lower half of his body), but eventually they were going to have to open the bomb bay doors and all of his blood would rush out.
This must be a UL, since nobody (outside of an anecdote from the scientifically rigorous Taxicab Confessions) seems to have a date or name associated with any of these incidents.
Now if you will excuse me, I have to check some facts on a story I heard on G-String Divas…
A roughly similar situation regularly occurs in emergency rooms with patients who have an abdominal aortic anurism. The patients are often awake, but have a condition that is 99% likely to kill them. Family members are often called to say a few last words before emergency surgury.