Years ago, I was driving down US 23 in Michigan near Ann Arbor when up ahead a car accident occurred. When I neared the accident I pulled over and as I was pulling over I noticed that the gentleman in the accident was already out of the car, sitting on the ground near his driver side rear tire with his head on his palms. His head was bleeding and he was shaking. When he pulled his head up from his palms I immediately thought, "holy shit, that's Dave".
Dave worked for the same restaurant group that I did and was childhood friends with one of my closest friends.
"Dave are you alright?"
"Steve?" My being there confused him but he replied, "Yeah, I'm fine but Julie.... Julie is pregnant."
Daves wife was in the passenger seat, sitting still not wanting to move without the say so of the paramedics. I spoke to Julie and reassured her that Dave was alright, just a couple of scratches and that she too was likely fine. I then relayed to Dave that Julie was fine and that the ambulance would arrive shortly and although they were both likely fine, they would need to go to the hospital. Dave understood but then looked at me and said, "what about the dogs."
Their two Golden Retrievers were in the back seat of the car and amazingly, given the scope of the accident, they seemed fine. I told Dave not to worry, that I would take care of the dogs. I walked to my car and got the strap off of my computer bag and strapped it to the collar of the first dog and walked her to my car. She got in without a problem.
By now traffic was moving pretty quickly again. When I was attempting to get the dogs I tried to enlist the help of one of the policeman that was there. He refused to go near the dogs and was extremely rude about it. There was a fireman nearby that noticed and helped to guard the door while I opened it. But despite his best efforts, when the door opened to get the second dog, it darted past us and almost ran straight in to oncoming traffic.
Julie, now on a stretcher saw this and screamed "NOOOOO".
Just before the dog made it past the firetruck and into the oncoming cars, a fireman dove a la Bobby Or or Pete Rose and wrapped his arms around the dog.
There is no doubt that he saved that dogs life. I'm sure I'm not conveying how amazing it was to witness. But keep in mind that only a few moments prior a policeman refused to even go near that dog and here was a fireman diving, sprawled out and tackling it in order to save it's life.
"That was amazing," is all I could come up with. And it was.
I took the dogs to the vet and they were fine. Dave and Julie were fine too, just a bit cut up and bruised. Their baby was also healthy and fine. A few weeks later I got a nice postcard from Dave and Julie and their dogs thanking me.
There haven't been a lot of times when I felt like fate wanted me somewhere but that was one of them.
I try to always stop when I can and help when people need it. It really does come back in spades.
When is a time you've spontaneously been called to action?
