It was the dark of night, and only another car in front of me and mine were on the road. We were on our way to meet someone at 8:30, and I insisted that my mom listen to my favorite song on my Kanye cd… “they say you don’t know what you got, till it’s gone.” A pickup truck (on a road perpendicular to the highway) was coming down a hill approaching the stop sign to enter onto the highway. The Hyundai in front of me was only two car lengths away… and then everything went in slow motion as I watched the pickup truck. It seemed that the truck didn’t even attempt to tap the brake pedal, in fact it seemed to pick up speed as it rolled down the hill and through the stop sign. We watched in disbelief, as the pick up truck gained momentum, and barreled through the passenger side of the car, forcing it across the lanes of traffic. The pickup truck, not phased by the destruction of the car, kept going across the opposite lanes of traffic where it came to a screeching halt, plowing into a huge tree.
We had to swerve ourselves to evade the Hyundai and we were in shock with what just unfolded in front of our eyes. We were the only people on the road and I pulled over and jumped out of the car as mom called the police. It seemed as if it was an hour, but everything unfolded in only a matter of seconds. I ran over to the Hyundai — its front end was completely crushed and I noticed a girl stuck inside slumped over the stearing wheel. My heart dropped because she wasn’t moving and I started yelling at her, and thankfully she started moaning. The car was smoking and I was afraid it was going to blow up. I had to get this girl out. I pulled her body out of her seat so she was laying back on me, in between my legs, and her right leg was still stuck in the wreckage. She screamed in agonizing pain. Come on girl…we have got to get you outta this car.
I am by no means big, and well…she had a few pounds on me. I have never tried so hard to move something in my entire life. And there was no question about it…I was going to move her away from the smoking car. We made a deal she would use all her might to lean on her left leg as I fireman- pulled her till I had to rest again. Finally I got her to the grassy median and put her head in my lap as I realized what just happened. Mom ran over and thank-god said help was on its way. We sat in the median with Patrina, trying to comfort her, as we noticed that on her right leg her bones were coming out of her jeans. She was crying and I was shaking. I heard the sirens and couldn’t wait for them to get there. Patrina was alive, but in excruciating pain…the pickup truck still stopped against the tree on the other side of the road.
And just like that she was wisked away in the ambulance. We searched in the newspaper, and internet for information about what had happened or how she was doing. Nothing. I had been haunted about what happened that night. If we were only moments earlier…it would have been us. Then out of nowhere we got a letter in the mail: Subpoenaed to appear on October 9, 2008 for a drunk driving case: State of Maryland v. Shawn Ryan.
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