Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Shift Shots 1/9/2010

I debate weather this should even be posted. It is, and it isn't really, from the shift that day. I was on my way to work waiting for the subway, when just before the downtown 6,5, or 4 was to get to the station, the emergency service unit of the police came in and a duo of paramedics. The token booth operator and I'm sure the MTA was quick to coordinate the entire effort and somehow relay the message to the train to stop before the station and wait for them to do their business. It all happened really fast. Evidently there was somebody lying in the hollow space on the tracks, and they were all called in to strap him on to the stiff board they brought with them to then take him to the ambulance upstairs I assume.

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So strange though, as to how they knew he was there, if he was alive, if he was fine, or really, really, really intoxicated? Or was he just trying to find a place to sleep where he wouldn't be bothered? although to do something like this you'd have to be crazy enough to be taken away to a hospital. Sad, if only people could be left in peace... on the subway tracks. heck it beats getting shipped around from hospital to hospital and getting a bill for a few thousand bucks. I heard them ask him several times if he was okay, but I didn't hear a response.

After it was all said and done, the police started cracking jokes with one another, the paramedics however were extremely professional. Who'm I kidding they were all really pros, doing it all so quick and with such non-shalance. Both the city paramedics and the special service unit of the police department only see the weirdest stuff this city has to offer, so for them, this might not have been the strangest thing that night. This is also a special glimpse for those of us, i.e. all of us, who've been waiting on the train or at the station forever hearing the all too common message "There is police activity ahead", the message list goes on and the messages are getting better, but still they are seemingly intentionally vague. Just remember not all news is news deemed suitable for the public's ears, so the next time you're waiting forever for the train, imagine all the things that can, and actually do go wrong, more often than you know.