Police in Utah are searching for a group of construction workers, students and bystanders. But for a good reason.
This group is credited with saving a man’s life by working together to lift a burning car and pull a man to safety.
It was a “life-saving move that the Logan Police Department does not want to go unnoticed,” said Jeff Curtis, assistant chief of the police department in Logan, Utah.
The incident occurred Monday morning on a street near Utah State University and was captured on video.
Police said the BMW pulled out of a parking lot and in front of Wright. Curtis said the motorcyclist tried to avoid the car, which resulted in him laying the motorcycle down. After crashing, gas spilled out of the motorcycle and ignited, engulfing both the motorcycle and the front end of the car in flames…The motorcyclist became lodged underneath the burning vehicle…
Curtis said police are trying to find the people who helped so they can be recognized for their efforts at a city council meeting.
People torn from an ordinary day by extraordinary circumstances. Caring – as we all should – for the life of another human being.
The follow-up story will be: shortly after the police find the construction workers and the city council gives them appropriate recognition, officials from OSHA arrive and fine them all $10,000 each for violating safety rules. Then ICE (INS?) shows up and deports all the non-white construction workers.
And then a lawyer for the “victim” will file a lawsuit against all if them as his client was injured during the event because of these non professional rescue workers.
It’s good to see things like this, they remind us that it’s human nature to help others in times of difficulty. We’re better than we’re led to believe. Notice that nobody sought any recognition from this – it’s really a natural thing to do, if you can help, you help. The survival instinct that brought us thousands of years to today.
This is a ponzi scheme.
DON’T HELP ANYONE, you will get sue and screwed! Just saying 😀
This highlights the difference between a conservative state and a liberal state.
“2006 Utah Code – 78-11-22 — Good Samaritan Act.
(1) A person who renders emergency care at or near the scene of, or during an emergency, gratuitously and in good faith, is not liable for any civil damages or penalties as a result of any act or omission by the person rendering the emergency care…”
And now:
“December 19, 2008 Being a good Samaritan in California just got a little riskier.
The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a young woman who pulled a co-worker from a crashed vehicle isn’t immune from civil liability because the care she rendered wasn’t medical.
The divided high court appeared to signal that rescue efforts are the responsibility of trained professionals.”
What a difference a state makes!!
Ah Yea==got a link? I’m curious why the woman is getting sued for the non-rescue services. Did she provide accounting services 3 months after the crash or what? I just don’t trust your ability to properly categorize the simple meaning of what you read.
Eideard–you tag this as DIY? The only singular activity here was the motorcyclist hitting the car. Everything else was a team effort. More broadly, I don’t think this video demonstrates DIY in its common meaning at all. At least, I’ve never seen such a video on my diy-dot-com newsletter.
Virtually every state has good Samaritan laws. Maybe they all do.
And besides, if you refuse to help in a situation like that you’re a poor excuse for a human.
AhYeah…the devil is in the details, and the CA story likely involves much more than pulling a victim from a burning car.
Think (do nothing) congress could take a lesson from these (non-)bystanders?
#4 – Thank you. It’s about time someone had the courage to admit it.
These are good folks, we need more of them.
Wikipedia: “In recent years, the term DIY has taken on a broader meaning that covers a wide range of skill sets. DIY is associated with the international alternative rock, punk rock, and indie rock music scenes; indymedia networks, pirate radio stations, and the zine community. In this context, DIY is related to the Arts and Crafts movement, in that it offers an alternative to modern consumer culture’s emphasis on relying on others to satisfy needs.”
OTOH – I don’t doubt that Eid included this tongue-in-cheek, absolutely certain that there would be at least one stiff who would take issue.
I’ve read that actions such as these are a bad idea. Not because of any liability but because of the risk of injury when moving a severely injured person. The risk of automobiles exploding is very low outside of Hollywood.
I know the video cut off and tunnel visioned, but I was kind of weirded out by the immediate scattering of persons after the pull-out, sort of like, “I can’t stay, I have frozen foods in my car” No hand-holding or dragging him farther from the burning car. Even if he was dead, I thought someone would have made an attempt to make the body more comfortable.
#14 I had that impression too, was weird, until I realized the police were right outside the field of view of the camera and were getting ready to take charge. Yep, a case of ‘not my business’, but they’ve done a lot already, and all of them must have thought ‘well, somebody will take care of him now, there’s the police right there’. And later in the video you see many folks stayed around. Maybe just in case.
The risk of automobiles exploding may be small. But the risk of burning to death under the vigorously burning engine compartment of an automobile and motorcycle is obvious in the video.
I recall a bit of the California case. I forgot the details, but it seems to me that the law was changed following and due to the decision. It has little to do with the redness or blueness of the state. Remember, Ronald Regean, Dana Rohrabacher and Robert Dornan are from California.
Oh, I left out….What a great group of folks! Bravo!
@ #6, Ah_Yea:
You left out the most important part of Utah’s Good Samaritan law: “…unless the person is grossly negligent or caused the emergency.”
And you aren’t telling the whole California story.
Time article on Van Horn v. Torti
Most jurisdictions’ Good Samaritan laws have an exception for “gross negligence.” The case in California centers on negligence and whether the passerby was administering urgent medical care.
I don’t think it’s too much to ask people not to cause more harm than they’re supposedly preventing. In the video above, the car was on fire. Nobody would argue that man shouldn’t have been rescued.
In the California case, a woman was paralyzed possibly due to a passerby recklessly removing her from a wrecked vehicle that otherwise posed no danger.
Apple != Orange
True Hero’s are unknown hero’s
those who live and fight day to day under the weight of an oppressive indoctrinated political system(u.s citizens).
Yet they stopped their lives for those few moments to save another human being from a fairly terrible fate that he did try to avoid.
its terrific !!
I hope they’re never found and can enjoy the self pride they so righteously deserve !! and every one of them ought to a superman shield medal(or a tatto thats not cheesey) (it means more than a lot of other things these days)
1 Problem seen (“He’s under there!”)
2 Solution proposed (notice guy in blue-green shirt, shades & yellow gloves gesturing)
3 Plan put into motion
4 Successful conclusion
all in 30 seconds. I’m impressed!
This is the perfect anodyne for the “Caption this mugshot” picture below.
#19 And no authorities involved in solving the emergency…
Notice that the Cop On The Scene does nothing but direct traffic, and later people from the burning car. Zero leadership skills.
The Blue Shirt Guy and the Girl in Black Pants were the true leaders and heroes. The rest of ’em got her done!
natefrog, you haven’t provided any facts from the California case that would have us think that was anything less than a miscarriage of justice, and reason for someone in California to not help.
The cops were just on the job, everyone else had something important going on right in front of them…
Good one.
Anyone know the condition of the biker?..He looks pretty effed up.
@natefrog ” a woman was paralyzed possibly due to a passerby recklessly removing her from a wrecked vehicle that otherwise posed no danger.”
Except that after a generation of watching TV shows she assumed that the car would explode in a colorful fireball as soon as is stopped moving.
She was found negligent because what she did wasn’t medical assistance – so good samaritan doesn’t apply (tricky that, does removing a burning car from on top of a biker count as medical?) but also because she didn’t ask permission. You have to ask permission of somebody to rescue them for good Samaritan to count – even if they are unconscious.
@18 this was also in the article: Those laws were set in place in 1980, when the state legislature enacted Health and Safety Code 1799.102, which provides that “no person who in good faith, and not for compensation, renders emergency care at the scene of an emergency shall be liable for any civil damages resulting from any act or omission.” However, in its sharply divided 4-3 ruling, the high court held that the state statute immunizing rescuers from liability applies only if the individual is providing medical care in an emergency situation, citing the statute’s placement in a section of the code dealing with emergency medical services. Torti, who is not a health-care worker, believed she was acting as a concerned friend.
Read more: http://time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1871331,00.html#ixzz1XsLR7Xrv
This ruling does seem to restrict protection to medical care only which extraction would not include. In NH Section 508 covers liability limits and they are for emergency personel.
#27
“Brandon is doing pretty well, very well considering what happened,” Wright’s uncle Tyler Riggs said during a news conference Tuesday. “He’s going to make it out of this fine with some recovery.”
Despite not wearing a helmet, Riggs said Wright had suffered no head trauma in the accident. Wright does have two broken legs, a broken pelvis, road rash, burns on his left foot and abrasions to his forehead.
Riggs said Wright, who was headed to study at a university computer lab, tried to protect himself by laying his bike down before the collision. Riggs also said Wright remembers some details from the crash and told the family he felt scared and could see and feel the flames.
“He remembers being under the car, spitting up blood and not being able to talk,” Riggs said.
[Thank you – ed. McCullough]