My chauffeur just saw someone commit suicide. I then saw the body. (Disturbing)

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

So I go with my dad to the doctors office for a regular checkup, my mom arrives about 2 minutes later and tells me that the chauffeur (Jose) just saw someone kill himself.

I was rather shocked as I had just passed the place where the guy killed himself. The Doctors visit ended rather quickly and I quickly went to talk to Jose to ask him what exactly had happened.

It turns out this young man (early 20’s) was at highest level of the parking lot at a local mall (4 stories high). He saw the guy speaking on a cell phone. The man was standing on top of a narrow edge beyond the rails that are used mark parking limits.

Jose thought the guy was just going to do some construction work.

He was wrong.

The guy with cell-phone in hand proceeded to jump head first into solid concrete. Blood splattered everywhere. He died instantly. The thing is that below the building there was a soft roof about a meter in length. Had the guy landed on it, the material of the roof might have absorbed the impact and he would have survived. But no, the guy jumped forward to intetionally avoid hitting the rood.

Curious, I asked Jose if the body could possibly still be outside the mall. Since in Dominican Repbulic things tend to move at a slow pace, it was a possibility.

Indeed. We arrived at the mall and I got permission to pass the yellow tape barrier and saw the dead guy.

He looked young, and was rather clean. They had washed him with water, but I could still see blood on his shirt. If the blood had not been cleaned out you could have thought he was still alive.

What was most akward was his face. He looked sad. Beyond sad actually, it was a very disturbing expression, his lips were facing down simialar to a sad smiley, but his (closed) eyes looked rather normal.

The paramedics then lifted him up. At this point I managed to catch a good look at the back of his head. It was cracked straight down the middle. I could see a clear wide opening of red-pink flesh.

Its the third person I’ve ever seen dead.

And it was rather surreal.

#2

You have a chauffeur?

Dude. Can I spare a few bucks?
I know, it’s ugly, I’ve seen a few in my life by accident. The one that sticks in my head was the guy that didn’t beat the train he was trying to beat across the tracks one night after the bars closed when I was in college.

#3

Thanks for sharing. I guess.

#4

Daddy taught me as a youngster to not look outside the limousine’s windows. You never know what the commoners are up to, and it’s best not to.

#5

In many Latin American countries its not uncommon to have a chauffer. You don’t need to be rich at all.

They get paid about 250-300$ a month.

It’s a very poor country.

And I riding in a 9 year old 80,000+ mile ford. Don’t make assumptions.

This one fucked up thing I saw, that one rarely gets to witness.

#6

When I worked at a funeral home, I saw lots of dead bodies–some dead of suicide or murder, but mostly just old age. Occasionally I helped the director carry particularly heavy bodies into the morgue that were still warm.

And twice I had to sub as the chauffeur at funerals.

Not so disturbing.

#7

May your dreams be free of that image.

#8

[sup]Snerk[/sup]

#9

Yeah, some people got the wrong idea when I said chauffer.

**This ** is what poverty looks like in the DR, and many of them live in such areas:

http://www.ips.uiuc.edu/ilint/mt/iir/online/dominican_republic1.jpg

http://www.infodx.org/image-gallery/country-pics/typical-haitan-homes-dominican-republicsmall.jpg

http://home-3.tiscali.nl/~pjetax/imagenes/gente/bario_santo_domingo.jpg

I apologize if I came out as snobish. It´s a completly different culture.

#10

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Sorry you had to see that, but you’re probably better off for the experience.

#11

But he didn’t have to see it. He went looking for it.

#12

Was this in Santo Domingo? Where in the city?

#13

In Plaza Lama en la 27.

(27th street)

Its a very central area.

#14

I’m just curious… why go see the body? It just strikes me as a little bit weird to go out of your way just to check it out, especially since it’s not like you knew the guy or had any connection beyond your chauffeur’s unfortunate experience.

I’ve never seen a dead body, as even the funerals I’ve attended have been closed casket. I’ll be quite happy if I don’t ever have to, either.

#15

The mall is literally on the way to my house, I have to pass through it.

I´m a very curious person, and I´m not grossed out easily, but suicide is a subject that interests me.

What a person is thinking before he dies and actually going through it.

He was talking casually on the phone and the dived head first into the concrete. Wtf? Why kill youself in such a public place, there are so many other ways?

It was also a bit weird that Jose told me a camera man appeared soon after the guy plunged.

It all seemed rather weird to me, so I had to go see.

#16

If you call him your “driver,” most people won’t give it a second thought.

At least, that’s what the girl who flosses my teeth told me.

#17

I wonder what his cell phone call was about.

I also wonder what the point is of having authorities and yellow tape if it’s that easy to get permission to go under it and approach a suicide victim, if you’re not a medical examiner or something.

#18

My first day on the job at the funeral home, the family of a dead person came to the office and told me that the body–which was in state–should have a certain ring on. They gave me the ring and insisted that I put it on the finger of the dead man. Since it was may first day, I didn’t know what to do, other than put the ring on, which I did.

I later found out that it was a violation of the embalmers’ union contract, but they overlooked it.

#19

Man, If I knew there was a dead body around, I’d make a point to avoid it. Ditto for gruesome videos. I guess I don’t understand the mentality of seeking things that will haunt me later.

#20

This is a good example why having an actual location in your location field is a good idea. I know a lot of people say “I state my location if it’s relevant.” But not everybody remembers to do that all the time. Like the others, I was totally distracted from the content of your OP by the chauffeur comment. And I did look at your location field as soon as I saw the word to see if you were anywhere where having a driver might be more common.