I found a woman passed out on the ground today.
She didn’t respond at all when I asked her if she was ok so I called 911.
I was riding my bike for a few miles and I was going to go for a pretty long ride, when I got a flat tire.
So I turned back. I didn’t want to walk the bike back the long way, and I was on a highway going downhill so I figured I would coast on it as long as I could.
I was approaching a tunnel that had a roadway and a walkway. There was a lot of traffic and the flat tire made the bike fish-tail a bit, so I went on the walk way so if I lost control I wouldn’t hit a car.
As I approached the tunnel, I saw a figure leaned against the wall on the floor of the dark and dirty tunnel.
As I got closer I realized it was a woman. She had her head down I thought as if trying to sleep. Like maybe she was walking in the heat and was taking a rest.
I rode by her and was going to mind my business but the details didn’t quite add up.
The ground of that tunnel is pretty filthy. Kids pee in it and there are broken bottles.
She wasn’t dirty or in old clothes like a person that might just decide to sleep there.
She had jogging shoes and spandex shorts like a runner.
But she also had a big bag of stuff and a purse not like a runner would be carrying.
It just seemed weird so I stopped the bike in the tunnel and walked back to her.
I asked repeatedly if she was ok. No response. I asked louder and louder. I tapped her shoe with my foot. No response. I looked to see if she was breathing and she was.
So I called 911.
I got routed to the local police which just had a voicemail so I called 911 again and told them that and soon a police car was there.
And then the emergency care unit.
When they got in her face with the flashlights in her face she started to stir.
The policeman asked if she was ok.
She said she was sick. He asked her what kind of sick and she said she was pregnant.
She didn’t seem to have any idea how she ended up where she was.
She was really out of it.
The cop started looking for needle marks on her arm and didn’t find any.
He asked if she had been drinking and she said no.
And then later said she had been.
At first she said no to every single question.
Then the emergency care people took over.
I was disturbed to think that she had been drinking if she was pregnant. So I was glad to find her when I did for the baby’s sake as well as her own. It was a pretty hot day.
Good thing the bike tire went flat or I never would have seen her.
This happened two days ago. A little clip from my journal. I’ve only ever called 911 two times, and they were both this year. The other was a two car traffic accident (not my car, I barely stopped to avoid the collided cars) that happened right in front of me a couple months ago.