I have needed to call 000 (Australia's emergency number like 999 or 911) a few times.
None of them particularly pleasant, although no situation would be pleasant if you had to call 000.
The first time that I had to was probably the worst.
The first time I found a dead man in a car. A Volvo I seem to recall (I’ll get to the specifics later).
It was in a car park of a business in an industrial estate sort of area, all the cars had gone and I wanted to lock the gates up and leave, except there was one car left in the car park.
Management frowned on me closing the gates and leaving people in there to open and close the gates themselves although there were other people working further back into the estate. So I could have just left.
At that point looking out across the car park at this car I wistfully thought to myself ‘I hope that’s not a dead man’s car’.
So I drove up and looked in on the car; looked like the bloke was sleeping, so I tapped on the window.
And...nothing.
So I knocked a little harder on the window of the car and nothing.
That’s when the dread began, not in the pit of my stomach, the prickling sensation of sweat that begins down your spine. The worry and dread that this bloke may not just be asleep.
So I called the manager to find out what I should do.
‘Oh shit.’ That was the manager’s response. ‘Are you sure?’ The next question.
Of course I wasn’t sure, in order to be sure I’d need to open up the car door, if it was open and check further.
And then if it turned out he was dead call an ambulance. At the time I did wonder what an ambulance would do to a dead man, in that sarcastic part of my brain that deals with things like this.
I opened the door and said ‘Hello?’, because what does one say when you’re opening a car door to check if someone is alive or dead? I was at this point still hoping that the man was alive.
Nothing.
So I called triple 0. I don’t actually remember how the call went, I know you have to ask for ambulance, police or fire. But I don’t remember that.
I remember the emergency person, it was a woman, asking me if I could tell if he was alive and asking if I was able to do CPR...it wasn’t that. I mean that wasn’t the term used but that is my memory of it.
They asked me if I could get him out of the car and onto the ground.
I looked at the guy, who seemed dead and I said ‘I...I don’t think I can’ at this point I was getting a little freaked out. I did have the shakes a little bit. Not ashamed to admit that.
The emergency person said ‘That’s okay, we’re sending the ambulance now’. Actually given that they said that I must have given the address at some point prior to that conversation.
At some point after that the ambulance arrived...and totally missed the entrance and went down the next small street.
So I had to wave them over to the correct entrance.
I still had the shakes a little bit there and it got somewhat worse as time went on. I think I was stuttering a bit as well.
The ambulance people, a man and a woman I recall checked the bloke and said ‘Yes, mate, he’s dead, there’s nothing you could have done’. That made me feel better, I don’t think they said it just to make me feel better.
I found out later he’d sat in his car and gone to sleep. It was incidentally a hot day. He was an old guy.
I don’t remember if the windows were open.
Although I do remember the car was a Volvo a red, or possible brown...or maybe green Volvo with beige interior.
Then the police arrived.
I hadn’t asked for police, supposedly the ambulance guys called them and then at some point further along the coroner or something like that arrived.
The key thing I remember of the police is them asking me questions about how I found the body and then them saying ‘we’re not accusing you of anything’.
I didn’t think they were at the time, but them saying that made me suspicious.
The rest of that incident is a bit of a blur, I did call the manager at some point and they turned up.
At some point after that I was able to leave. It still sticks with me as one of those events. But I do at least feel more confident that should I have to deal with something similar or anything like it in the future I will be able to deal with it and remain calm if whatever it is happens.
None of them particularly pleasant, although no situation would be pleasant if you had to call 000.
The first time that I had to was probably the worst.
The first time I found a dead man in a car. A Volvo I seem to recall (I’ll get to the specifics later).
It was in a car park of a business in an industrial estate sort of area, all the cars had gone and I wanted to lock the gates up and leave, except there was one car left in the car park.
Management frowned on me closing the gates and leaving people in there to open and close the gates themselves although there were other people working further back into the estate. So I could have just left.
At that point looking out across the car park at this car I wistfully thought to myself ‘I hope that’s not a dead man’s car’.
So I drove up and looked in on the car; looked like the bloke was sleeping, so I tapped on the window.
And...nothing.
So I knocked a little harder on the window of the car and nothing.
That’s when the dread began, not in the pit of my stomach, the prickling sensation of sweat that begins down your spine. The worry and dread that this bloke may not just be asleep.
So I called the manager to find out what I should do.
‘Oh shit.’ That was the manager’s response. ‘Are you sure?’ The next question.
Of course I wasn’t sure, in order to be sure I’d need to open up the car door, if it was open and check further.
And then if it turned out he was dead call an ambulance. At the time I did wonder what an ambulance would do to a dead man, in that sarcastic part of my brain that deals with things like this.
I opened the door and said ‘Hello?’, because what does one say when you’re opening a car door to check if someone is alive or dead? I was at this point still hoping that the man was alive.
Nothing.
So I called triple 0. I don’t actually remember how the call went, I know you have to ask for ambulance, police or fire. But I don’t remember that.
I remember the emergency person, it was a woman, asking me if I could tell if he was alive and asking if I was able to do CPR...it wasn’t that. I mean that wasn’t the term used but that is my memory of it.
They asked me if I could get him out of the car and onto the ground.
I looked at the guy, who seemed dead and I said ‘I...I don’t think I can’ at this point I was getting a little freaked out. I did have the shakes a little bit. Not ashamed to admit that.
The emergency person said ‘That’s okay, we’re sending the ambulance now’. Actually given that they said that I must have given the address at some point prior to that conversation.
At some point after that the ambulance arrived...and totally missed the entrance and went down the next small street.
So I had to wave them over to the correct entrance.
I still had the shakes a little bit there and it got somewhat worse as time went on. I think I was stuttering a bit as well.
The ambulance people, a man and a woman I recall checked the bloke and said ‘Yes, mate, he’s dead, there’s nothing you could have done’. That made me feel better, I don’t think they said it just to make me feel better.
I found out later he’d sat in his car and gone to sleep. It was incidentally a hot day. He was an old guy.
I don’t remember if the windows were open.
Although I do remember the car was a Volvo a red, or possible brown...or maybe green Volvo with beige interior.
Then the police arrived.
I hadn’t asked for police, supposedly the ambulance guys called them and then at some point further along the coroner or something like that arrived.
The key thing I remember of the police is them asking me questions about how I found the body and then them saying ‘we’re not accusing you of anything’.
I didn’t think they were at the time, but them saying that made me suspicious.
The rest of that incident is a bit of a blur, I did call the manager at some point and they turned up.
At some point after that I was able to leave. It still sticks with me as one of those events. But I do at least feel more confident that should I have to deal with something similar or anything like it in the future I will be able to deal with it and remain calm if whatever it is happens.