good samaritan

I had never dialed 911 until last night.

While riding our bikes home from downtown last night, Sam suddenly turned into a parking lot. As I followed him, I heard what he had recognized a few seconds earlier - someone yelling for help. Across the parking lot a man was lying at the bottom of a ten foot high wall. In a minute of conversation, we learned that he had fallen from the wall and could not move his leg. We also learned that he had had a few drinks. Sam asked him if we should call 911, and the man said yes. Sam asked two more times, to be sure that the man realized how serious and expensive calling an ambulance was. He replied to the affirmative both times, and that's when I got to dial 911.

I wasn't quite sure how 911 worked on cell phones, so when the dispatcher asked me where the emergency was, I naively said, "Springfield, IL." When asked to elaborate, I was glad to hear him describing the landmarks around my location, so I knew I had been connected to a local dispatcher. It's nice how that works.

There was an outdoor concert going on downtown, so it didn't take more than a few minutes for a firetruck to arrive. We watched as a fireman evaluated the man's leg, and then decided standing around was being no help, so we left. As we were turning a block later, we saw an ambulance and two police cars heading over.

I hope the man is okay, but both Sam and I agree that probably the worst injury he incurred from last night is the damage to his pocketbook, rather than whatever bumps and bruises he got from a drunken fall.