David Chiu

A couple of hours ago I witnessed a horrific accident on my way back from the gym. I was driving down Western and was about to cross 7th street when I noticed a large object in my lane past the intersection. At first I thought it was a large bag of trash and I switched lanes to avoid it. As I passed the object I looked out my window and was shocked to see that it was a man laying in the fetal position IN THE ROAD. I yelled out “OH SHIT!” and immediately started to pull over and call 911 when I heard a loud crash. The worst thought came to mind and I looked to my right horrified to see this black sports car slowing to a stop dragging the man underneath. I SCREAMED, “OH SHIT!” frantically dialing 911 only to get a message saying all lines were busy and to hold. At the same time the security guards of this night club we happened to be in front of came over and started screaming at each other to block traffic and call the police. The driver and passenger of the car that hit the homeless man got out of their car and started talking to the security guard telling him it was an accident and he didn’t realize there was a man laying in the road. Traffic started to back up and another security guard started yelling at the cars to move out of the way. At that moment an unmarked police car came driving by with their lights flashing. The first security guard started waving down the police but the the unmarked police car didn’t stop and kept driving. At this point I had a guard yelling at me telling me to GO! So I drove home, shocked and horrified at what I had just witnessed.

I feel like I could have done more. If only I had known that there was a man laying in the road I could have blocked traffic. The man looked homeless and he also looked hurt. When I passed him and looked at him he had his eyes closed and he wasn’t moving. All I could do was say a few prayers on the way home.

When I arrived at the house I immediately told Heather what happened. I was in shock. We decided the best thing to do was to call the police and try to file a report. When I called the police non-emergency line, the lady took my name and number and told me there were already four units at the scene and she would contact the officers there and tell them what I told her.

This is the worst thing I have ever seen. This is worst than the motorcycle accident my friend had in college and I also happened to witness the entire thing. He was hurt so bad they had to airlift him to a hospital. But he’s OK now.

This definitely makes me think that we need to reach out to the homeless to try to help them out. This was just horrible.