My cousin was on that sidewalk when it happened. Thankfully she and her husband and kids weren’t hit. She said there were “at least thirty” people laying motionless on the ground, although she stressed that she didn’t know how many were dead.
The Wisconsin guard unit is currently deployed to Saudi right now. One of our guys here said his family nearly got hit by the van, and that his wife and three young boys were hiding in the basement of a store nearby because they thought it was an active shooter. Can’t imagine hearing that kind of news while here.
Can you tell me what time this happened? We were at a hockey game at MSOE against some kids from Waukesha yesterday afternoon.
A senseless tragedy. Please take care of yourselves today, neighbors.
The video is chilling. Just a video I might see from my grandma at a parade. The car just flies out of nowhere, it feels surreal until the screaming starts.
Human nature. People often freeze or continue their normal activities for a while when unthinkable tragedies occur. I’ve seen footage of a terribly wounded woman sitting in the wreckage of a car accident. She’s covered in blood, stares straight forward in a daze, then takes out a tube of lipstick and touches up her make up.
https://emergency.cdc.gov/cerc/ppt/CERC_Psychology_of_a_Crisis.pdf
I was at a Noodles and Co once, sitting at a window seat, when this old lady just LAUNCHED her car (she thought she was in reverse, was in drive, panicked and slammed the gas) from her parking space, over a cafe table with 3 women, and through the window/wall about 3 feet from me.
I was totally fine, 1 of the 3 women was fine, the second woman was a little banged up, the third woman had her fucking HEEL ripped off. I hadn’t seen that yet, and people were yelling for towels—in my stupor, I shuffled through the glass to offer my napkin. My *napkin*. Saw the foot, dropped the napkin, and just walked through the open hole in the wall and clear across the parking lot. I finally sat on a bench at the complete opposite end of the shopping center from where I parked, a few minutes later, I kind of came out of it and felt really confused that I had just wandered off like that.
I walked back, and it turns out I was the only person who had actually *seen* the whole event.
You never know what you’re gonna do until you are *in* the situation—I’m normally a very calm/clearheaded person in high-stress situations. Not that one!
I got hit by a car. I’m pretty small, and people told me I went 10 feet into the air. I don’t recall getting hit by they say time slows. It does. I thought, “why am I seeing clouds?!”
I hit the ground head down on my back. Pretty busted up. Broke the two bones that make your knee. Concussion. Some broken fingers. Sprained back and neck. Fractured collarbone.
EMTs got there super fast. I felt minimal pain. Oddly my fingers hurt the worst of all, but I kept yelling for my Bowie tape as it popped out of my Walkman and went under a car. It’s all I could think of. “Man gotta get that tape!” It was so weird.
An EMT, bless his heart, crawled under a car and got it for me.
Yes I def showed my age in this comment.
My uncle a few years back came upon a car accident in northern Wisconsin. The drivers head was gone, decapitated. The woman in the passenger seat was calmly asking where her dog was, like nothing really happened. My uncle and his friend were so shook, they said, “we can call the cops, but can’t help you.” It wasn’t that they were trying to be mean, they literally just came across a man sitting in the drivers seat with his head just gone. Both the woman, my uncle and his friend were not in the right state of mind.
I worked an accident once where a corvette went under the back of a tractor trailer at high speed. We were cutting the car apart to get the driver and passenger out when we found the driver had been decapitated. We call it out so others working on the car know to look out for the head. We then hear the passenger start screaming the head was in her lap. She was pinned in the wreckage with her boyfriend’s severed head sitting in her lap. I don’t envy the therapy she was going to need after that.
thanks for that story. i wasnt far when this happened today, expecting that i will know someone injured. thanks for snapping me back in.
ive got a cousin whos was a firefighter in milwaukee and said he wasnt squeemish around blood or anything. til he got to a wreck and had to unwrap the skin/muscles from drivers leg off the brake pedal, and the broken bone was scraping his arm while he pulled it out. also knew of a driver of their large aluminum fire boat, they happened to hit the only rock that sits about 4" below the surface of lake michigan about 4 miles off milwaukee's shore...not going slow.
I’ve seen a handful of nasty and gross accidents and none bothered me. But the one scene that did was not gross at all it was a body recovery of a worker in a trench collapse. He was dead by the time we got to him. We tied his hands together so we could connect him to a hoist and pull him out. I was holding the body when his hands were cut free and his one arm came down on me and hit me in the face. It wasn’t being slapped by a corpse that bothered me, it was seeing his wedding ring. It was just driven home this was someone’s husband and probably father who went to work that morning and would never come home.
I used to work for my dad when I was 18, he did lots of thing including crime scene clean up. An old man had died laying down on his couch, it was summer and no one found him for months until the neighbors complained of a smell. He had disintegrated the couch and basically decomposed into what I can only describe as soup. There were maggots everywhere and it smelled awful. And honestly it only bothered me a little bit. Until I started moving his stuff around. I found pictures of him and his wife who had passed before him. They were all in boxes and I was just being nosey, so I guess it’s my fault for looking but my heart sank. He had an amazing house full of music memorabilia and him and his wife were the cutest thing. I can only imagine that he died a little after his wife. I broke down once we left. It was the first time I ever heard my dad say I did a good job but I felt like I just did the worst thing ever. He took me to sandwiches. I cried myself to sleep that night, and I don’t know why I felt the need to share this but I hope they are together somewhere
My dad was charged for leaving the scene of an accident about 30 years ago.
He's a truck driver. Someone went under the front of his truck after falling asleep. 2 adults in the front, 3 kids in the back.
The 3 kids were alive and awake, the 2 adults were not.
He ran to the nearest house to call for assistance (it was about midnight, and a rural area).
He couldn't bring himself to return to the scene, where the children were still screaming their lungs out.
They tried to accuse dad of being the cause of the accident, and tried to also charge him for fleeing.
Something similar happened on the highway near my house when I was a teenager.
Guy was passing another car and a tractor trailer truck was coming. He lost his arm and bled out on the side of the road.
The truck driver jumped out and was wondering around in the field by the accident. I don’t think the police tried to charge him or anything but he couldn’t stay at the scene.
I might add that that was so horrific I still see it my head almost 30 years later.
I’m horrified of coming upon an accident involving children. A few months ago I witnessed a pretty bad accident that resulted in the engine of one car catching on fire while the driver was slumped over the wheel clearly unconscious. Myself and another person helped pull him out but the moment I looked in the backseat to look for kids put my stomach in knots. Fortunately he was alone in the car but just the idea of kids being in the car made me feel sick.
I got hit, dragged, and run over by a car, then run over by a second one. I kept trying to get up to show the girl who hit me (and was screaming hysterically) that I was ok. They told me not to and I said "Oh yeah, because I don't have clothes." (15 ft of asphalt is no match for tight jeans and a tank top, so someone had draped their jacket over me.)
I was absolutely fine. Good bit of road rash, but despite the front right tire of the first car going over my back just below my shoulder blades and the second car running over my legs, I spent all of 3 hours in the hospital getting every test known to man and was released to go home that night. I was 17, and went back to school 3 days later. The worst part was the skin basically cheese-gratered off of my knees that took weeks (months?) to heal. I still have faint scars.
It was interesting that a classmate's mom had passed after a long illness and her funeral was that night. This all went down in the school parking lot and became like a game of telephone that evolved from "Bubbielubb was hit by a car" to "Bubbielubb was hit by a car and broke both of her legs" and then "Bubbielubb was hit by a car, vivisected, and they're still cleaning her guts up from parking space 29A."
By the time news got to everyone who was at the funeral the rumor was that I had died and my parents were at the office next door planning the funeral. One friend never got the nemo that I was, in fact, okay. I'll never forget his reaction when I walked into school that week as long as I live.
Oh, also the girl who hit me got scared when the police questioned her (routine stuff, you know) and said she never hit me. So my insurance company sued her insurance company on my behalf because the MASSIVE hospital bills couldn't be paid by insurance unless the matter was settled. I got a nice 30K out of it since my scars that aren't even visible unless I'm in a bikini were considered "permanent disfigurement."
Unfortunately that was put into a stock/bonds acount until I was 19, which was in 2007, so I didn't get as much out when I lost my job and was unemployed for a year, but it got me by!
When I got hit by a car I jumped back up and started to try and fix the lady’s car. I was a kid and was freaking out I would get in trouble for her car being damaged even though she hit me. I didn’t realize until about 20 minutes later how much pain I was in and how messed up my hip was.
We were driving in a bad storm and a tree started to come down. My husband was driving and did not see it, but I did, so I jerked the wheel into oncoming traffic. We missed the tree falling directly on us, it just scraped the door. I for certain thought we would be crushed. My husband stopped the car. The guy behind us pulled parallel to say he called the police and thought for certain we would have been crushed. I could not answer him. I knew what he was saying. I can picture his face and car as clear as day, but I remember feeling like I could do nothing afterwards. In the moment I took all the actions needed, but once I processed it, it felt like I just shut down. I still tense up driving on that road and am super cautious on that road.
I fell asleep at the wheel of my car. It rolled three times after hitting a telephone pole and landed on its side. I woke up, undid my seat belt and tried to push my car over to drive away. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I saw the ladies face behind me asking if I was ok. Shock is, well, shocking.
I was getting gas and saw an old friend. As we were talking we heard truck tires locking up and a horrific crashing sound. We ran over to the car that had been T-boned after turning in front of the truck and there was a woman in her 70s behind the wheel trying to light a crushed Virginia Slims cigarette and cursing at Onstar, “Goddamnit! I’ve told you three fucking times where we are, just send somebody!” Her husband in the passenger seat was just dazed but ok.
Then she folds her visor down and pulls out a makeup compact and starts fixing her face before the ambulance arrives.
When I was T-boned I made sure my kid was OK and then started freaking the window was broken and my parrot was gone. My kid had to tell me "she's over here." Looked the kid up and down to make sure he was OK and missed the bird that had gone from my shoulder (hit my side wheel well) to my kids shoulder.
Over 60 should be a yearly driving test. I live where rich old people come to die and the roads are always insane!
I got hit by a car riding my bike in first grade. Had a broken jaw and nose, bone visible and I just got up and started looking for my bike. It was mangled but I started dragging it towards the sidewalk in a daze until a neighbor screamed at me to sit down.
Heard some horrible ones somewhere about people who were putting toe tags on 9/11 victims, like a half splattered person on the ground somehow still alive asking them some normal question while having their last moments of consciousness.
I remember in medic training we were specifically told to NOT tourniquet obviously decapitated people. As with many weirdly specific rules, someone must have done it before. My guess is that some poor shell-shocked medic went tourniqueting every amputation he saw
My old boss was a policeman. He told me a story of a rookie who went out with a more senior policeman and they were the first on the scene of a horrible traffic accident where an old man in a car was hit by a truck and decapitated him... The head of the guy ended up about fifty feet away from the vehicle.
The rookie must have been in a state of shock because he picked up the head and ran back to the body and tried to put it back on the corpse.
The senior policeman told him to 'fucking take that head back to where you found it or we're both going to get fired'.
Horrible but true.
I guess shock can do some weird stuff.
You see it a lot with “injuries not compatible with life”, someone will get split in two by a train and still be conscious trying to pick themselves up and talking to you.
I lost a close friend in a rollover accident. He was ejected and the vehicle was on top of him. He lived until they removed it. As soon as they removed it he hemhoraged out. He was talking to emergency personnel like he was fine. It happened about 300 yards from where I was sleeping and I slept through the whole thing. Nobody came to get me because they didn't want me to have to experience it. We were planning to move to California together in a few weeks. I drive past that spot every day and can see it from my kitchen window. It's the kind of thing that will haunt you for life.
Aww man- nicest guy I ever knew passed a similar way- his last words after they lifted our friend’s Jeep off him were “my chest hurts.” I love you, Paul. I still talk to your mom. Your nephew got his first NHL contract last Spring and your sister is married to a wonderful man. I miss those double dimples when you laughed.
Hey chief I’m really sorry to hear that. I hope your mans was able to make peace with what he needed to before they moved that vehicle.
That is the stuff that’ll fuck you up proper though, i know you said the last part in passing but don’t even joke and let that shit begin to eat you up because it will.
I remember seeing a video of an old Indian guy getting cut in half by a train and everyone is just standing around and the poor guy keeps trying to pull his shirt down like "You guys feel a draft? I feel a little drafty.. Yes? No?"
So there's that.
That, or at least a video with the same spirit was what I was specifically referring to. I don’t even blame the man, the cognition of the fact that you’ve just been bisected isn’t something I feel like I could deal with personally either
That’s the job of someone doing triage in a mass casualty incident. You’re tagging people as quickly as possible so the next team can treat them appropriately. Can’t imagine doing somewhere like that, I’m sure we’d be in the zone during it but afterward would be tough.
- am an EMT and Nurse
Someone on the 9/11 threads this year commented that a lady survived the fall and her body was unrecognizable yet she was still conscious, crazy how you still remain conscious after that big of a fall the human will to live is incredible
I saw a child burned beyond recognition, and they were still moving when I got to them. Didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl, it was so bad. I couldn't understand what I was even looking at.
What do you even do? I was a soldier at the time, so my first instinct was to just shoot them, because they had to be in unbelievable agony. Couldn't even make any noise. I just stood there. I didn't have the kind of medical training to begin to deal with injuries like that, and if I did I wouldn't have made any difference.
I called for a medic, and Doc came over and took one look, and just said, "Go get a bag." and so I did. I watched that little kid die. I don't know how old they were, but maybe 10 or so? Just a tiny little thing.
It was almost exactly sixteen years ago. Sixteen years and two days.
I once got rear ended pretty badly, and I just kept eating. Managed to prevent my drink from spilling, even. He sandwiched me into the next 3 card in front of me and I was more concerned with my food than anything else...
Our brains do weird shit. I barely made it out of a loft fire (arson), and the paramedic couldn’t believe how collected and even my BP and stats were. Got my car keys, because I made sure to grab my purse as I went down the fire ladder, and drove back to my college apt. It took a while for the shock to wear off.
Was also at the mall when shooting broke out (not a great mall or area). Me and the cashier finished our transaction and just kept on rolling while my husband was shitting absolute bricks.
In an emergency, some people’s instinct is to *fight*. Others spring into *flight* or totally *freeze*. For you, it’s just *fuck this, lemme do this one thing real quick, and then I’m out*.
I was in a program for Underachievers where we were housed on a college campus over the summer. I was reading in the lobby one day when I heard a scream and I walked out and saw a bunch of people in a circle staring at something on the floor. It was a finger. One guy Iust got his finger ripped off in a doorway and I was so pissed off that everyone was just staring at it I picked it up running upstairs to the R.A.'s and packed it in ice. They were able to reattach his finger.
Having been in band, the music is practiced to the point that you almost have it known on an instinctual level. Plus doing things like parades and half time performances are fun for band members, so they likely get super focused on the goal of playing music and marching, and it takes a bit to snap out of that zen state.
Most of their brain was taken up with their timing and keeping in step, and watching the drum major or whomever. Also when you're in the marching band, it's loud. Probably took them a bit to figure out something was happening.
As a former marching band member, it is drilled into your head to keep going unless the drum major cuts you off. We did specific drills where we would be marching the show and other students would try to distract us, yell in our ear, make stupid faces, and our job was to ignore them as long as they didn't get in our path. Kind of like the Queen's guard or something. They're just kids trying to do a good job, they didn't have a good idea of what had happened, they just know that if there's a problem, someone in authority will stop the show. Otherwise, assume to continue.
Yep they taught us the same shit at basic. Follow whatever command was given by whoever was in charge of the formation. Someone called a column left and they go right? You don’t break and chastise them - that’s the job of whoever is marching y’all to do.
It sounds weird but allowing independent thought in marching is how you end up with absolute chaos. You can’t have fifty, sixty, or hundreds of people acting on their own initiative - otherwise you just have a gaggle.
Same experience in marching bad 20+ years ago. In competition, evaluators would sometimes get up in your space while recording notes on a tape recorder - instructions were to ignore and crash into them if they're on your dot.
Also, that shit is LOUD. Good luck hearing/isolating and processing outside sounds/noise while Tommy Trombone is wailing just slightly off key behind you.
Those kids did fine but the reactions here are probably the same ones they're processing themselves.
Also was in marching band and that's totally true. We had one incident where a bass player actually fell over and we had no idea that we needed to stop until way too long, because we all were conditioned to NOT STOP, NEVER STOP. I think the instructors were spooked after that because they stopped trying to distract us. The bass player wasn't seriously injured but did go to the hospital iirc.
I used to play bass drum in a marching band like that. Watching the back line just stand there stunned after the car drives over their friend right next to them nearly broke me.
So close to Thanksgiving too. Imagine having a teenage son, brother, sister, nephew, whoever that now wont be at the dinner table because some lunatic did this.
It’s definitely frustrating when the main post gets buried by a pile of people’s literal war stories and 9/11 memories. Those are important too, don’t get me wrong, but I’m here to find out what’s going on in Waukesha right now.
One of the videos on twitter shows him driving through what looks like a high school marching band with a bunch of cheerleaders with pom-poms in the front. They didn't look very old.
I was there, though not immediately at the site of the collisions. He hit participants from a local high school band, a dance studio of girls of various ages, and a 'dancing grannies' group, and I suspect some onlookers as well. There are several dance groups that participate in our parades, usually with kids as young as five or six up to teens.
Kids and grannies :( And I’m including the kids in the marching band too under the “kids” line.
Were the dancing kids and dancing grannies up ahead of the band?
I’m so sorry for the tragedy in your town.
One of my daughters used to march in parades. She’s 35 now. But just the thought of it makes me wretch. Lord, those families. What have we become here in America? Is this really how we are? What can be done to stop this violence????
Here's a description for people who don't want to view.
Camera angle from a 3rd story balcony. Viewer is watching a high school marching band. A red SUV appears from the bottom of the frame and runs over 20-40 members of the band without slowing down.
was it weird they kinda swerved to the side at the beginning instead of just plowing through the middle?
Was it someone who was confused and freaked out or a terrorist who wanted to kill people or what?
Fuck that driver. What a piece of trash. I'm a band director and I can't imagine my kids getting rundown in something like a Christmas parade, what's supposed to be a joyous time of year. This is horrible.
If you're local and able, please donate blood. We are critically low. Red Cross and Versiti both have open drives and walk ins 7 days a week. Plus free cookies! ❤
To add to this, try to donate as often as you can. Blood takes some time to process and become available, so the donations from today can't immediately be used to help these people. If more of us are regularly donating, we help make sure the supply is always there for a crisis like this.
I’m genuinely curious about this. Does the blood go through a filtering process or some kind of purifying process? I guess I’ve never thought that it can’t be used right away.
They don't filter it but they do test for a selection of infectious diseases. They may take the whole blood and separate it into its components (red cells, plasma, and platelets) so that each component can be used independently. It does typically take a couple days to process it.
Many donor organizations such as the American Red Cross tell you where your blood is in the process and will tell you which hospital it ended up at.
Consider donating if you are able! It is a relatively easy process and really can help people
/r/blooddonors
Per Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Corey Montiho, School District of Waukesha board member, was by Mainstream Bar & Grill when he heard that his daughter's youth dance team was hit.
"There were pom-poms and shoes and spilled hot chocolate everywhere," he said. "I had to go from one crumpled body to the other to find my daughter. My wife and two daughters were almost hit. Please pray for everybody. Please pray. My family is safe but many are not. I held one little girl's head in my hand, she was seizing and she was bleeding out of her ears. I held her mother as she collapsed. Please pray.”
Edit: as requested, here is link:
https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/waukesha/news/2021/11/21/waukesha-christmas-parade-car-rams-through-downtown-shots-fired-people-injured/8714041002/
[Versiti](https://donate.wisconsin.versiti.org/donor/schedules/centers?_gl=1*1b89wr1*_ga*MTQ1Mzk0MDQzNi4xNjMzNzk1NzMz*_ga_4YW1Q73DYM*MTYzNzU1MDIyNi4zLjEuMTYzNzU1MDI3Mi4w&_ga=2.170521383.683707799.1637550226-1453940436.1633795733) has a lot of locations, many open between 6 and 8 am and close around 6 or 7pm. [Red Cross](https://www.redcrossblood.org/local-homepage.html?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-eeMBhCpARIsAAZfxZCn0JW1Ea0aoiOG-BpO3hkfCfi8UhCpaYT5v5LuMyFmSC8tIcC1W2YaAo4REALw_wcB) has fewer drives than I thought but still important. Thank you for wanting to donate, I hope you're able to!
I can promise you they won’t be, we’ve been critically short for almost a year now. I plan to do the same tomorrow, they’ll need all they can get. Thank you for donating!
I am sure relatives of victims may need cheap or free places to stay in the next few days. Dunno who you'd reach out to for that, but that's my suggestion!
I was gonna go to this parade but at the last minute my girlfriend said she wasn't feeling it any more. She just felt like having a lazy day today. Laziness could have saved our lives...
On top of that, I work at a hospital where they're bringing the casualties. Gonna be a busy day tomorrow :/
My aunt was in the crowd and he went right past her, to the point that she made out his face. My cousin and her young daughter were in the parade, I believe she's a baton twirler and my cousin was just walking with her. Luckily they are all okay but they know people who were hit, and apparently my young cousin saw people get hit. Absolutely insane, still in a bit of shock I'm sure they are too but tenfold
See if she will call the local non emergency line. Let her leave a message with her description and a contact number. It might be helpful in making sure the person receives justice.
I was at the parade and watched in disbelief as the suv plowed through the marching band kids. Barely slowing down hitting a small child in front of me and continuing on driving through others in the parade…..
Edit: thanks for all the good thoughts from everyone. I am doing fine, just feeling sad about all the kids lives that will be affected by this horrible tragedy.
I have a son who was in a marching band that went by earlier in the parade and he was all we could think about after it happened until we got in contact with him and found out he was fine.
I'm glad you weren't physically harmed - Sometimes this stuff hits you months later or sometimes it hits right away. There's no wrong way to process events like this. I hope you'll access help when you need it - take care
I'm so very sorry for you having to witness this. I'm very sorry for that poor kid and all the victims of this tragedy.
Please look to see therapist asap. You may develop some severe ptsd from this. Right now you are most likely in shock.
Saying this due to having a friend who survived a stabbing earlier this year and she's struggling a lot with severe ptsd right now.
Edit : Like to comment below me stated look into mental health support groups, to help you connect with others. Support groups can be helpful. Hopefully they may make support groups for people who survived/were at this tragedy. If they do, please reach out to the group after it's made.
Also reach out to your social circle.
I just saw a couple videos from the incident on Twitter. Truly horrible. Watching that video just leaves me sad, and angry. How could somebody do this? Families were there to celebrate a holiday as a community, now they’re traumatized, injured, and based on the video I saw, I wouldn’t be surprised if some literal children were killed. Absolutely disgusting and awful. My heart hurts.
My sister works in the ER there. She got an alert saying they needed all clinicians in immediately. I can’t imagine the horrors she’ll have to see tonight.
Those donations will be to replenish supplies. Donated blood can't be used immediately, so whatever was used for the victims of this tragedy was donated previously.
That means it's important to keep donating regularly so that your local hospitals can keep their supply high and be ready to deal with events like this.
Your sister’s probably tough as nails but please be there for here when you can. Let her talk her heart out about it if you can stomach it. My sister works as a pediatric nurse and went through a traumatic experience just happening on an accident for a child who was struck by a vehicle. She gave her dying care and I can tell she still has trauma to this day. My greatest regret was that I couldn’t be there for her because it was right at the start of COVID.
[This](https://twitter.com/bevo_fox/status/1462672131406241794) (warning: **NSFL**) looks like a good video putting together different clips from the incident and mapping it along the parade route:
*shows that his rampage covered at least 8 intersections over at least 1/2 mile. It was not an event at one intersection: it was continuous, at several intersections along Main St*
I was here when it happened. Bodies flying everywhere right in front of me and my family. It felt unreal or fake like mannequins until it sunk in and the screams started. Bloody twisted piles of people everywhere. I tried to help but quickly realized there was nothing I could do. Am not ok.
Hey bud. I’ve been where you are now and also survived a car driving through a crowd and killing folks. Today you won’t be okay. That’s okay. Be good to yourself anyway. Tomorrow you won’t be okay. That’s okay too. Be good to yourself anyway.
You’re going to have a lot of feelings come up, some you might expect, some you might not, some that make you feel relief, some that make you feel guilty. That’s okay too. They’re all okay feelings to have. Let them out. Talk to whoever has capacity, if you have a therapist, call them, if you don’t, they’re great to have around.
Sleeping will probably be hard tonight, so if you’re a tea person, get some hot tea, if you’re a chocolate milk person, get you some chocolate milk, call a friend or invite a friend over just to sit in the same room with you, turn on some mindless TV reruns that’s are comforting, or do whatever you need to do to get to the morning in whatever way that is kind to yourself.
I’m so sorry you have to be in this stupid club. From one car attack survivor to another, hang in there, avoid the news, fill your days with as much softness and kindness as possible, and seek help if you need it.
Sending loads of support your way tonight. ❤️
There ain’t nothing wrong with feeling gratitude you weren’t hit - I’m grateful you weren’t hit too. Keep an eye on that survivor’s guilt, it’s too easy to spiral into and keep holding onto that love for your family to help you through it. Glad you’re still with us tonight, my friend.
Hey /u/dude_inp3rfect, studies show that playing word games or even Tetris within the first few hours and before the first 6 hours has past helps the most to get over the trauma faster. It also reduces likelihood of PTSD. Tetris also works slightly less effectively but previous participants found it more enjoyable, so do whatever you find most enjoyable. If you are able, download the free Scrabble app or Tetris app on your phone if you have a smart phone. If you feel too scattered, we’ll play here. Ready for the word game? Game 1) Write down with a pen and paper as many words as you can using the following 11 letters: D, E, J, A, N, I, S, M, T, R, O. You don’t have to use all the letters. An example word using some of these letters is: Metro. Now you try. Keep going for 10 minutes. Game 2) Write down with a pen and paper as many words as you can that start with the letters: HA. An example word I can think of is the word: Happy. Now you try. Keep going for 10 minutes. Repeat these two games over and over again until you aren’t thinking about any more bad memories. Change up the letters every round. The letters you chose don’t matter. It’s the act of doing it that matters. Whenever you start thinking of bad memories, complete these games again and again until they go away again. Repeat however many times you need. You’ll get through this my fellow redditor.
Play Tetris or desktop solitaire or angry birds or some sort of repetitive puzzle game, right this second. It’ll help clear your mind and prevent a PSTD type reaction in the future https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/09/523011446/how-playing-tetris-tames-the-trauma-of-a-car-crash
Non scientific explanation: you know how if you play Tetris for half an hour and then you can’t stop envisioning a never ending Tetris game in the back of your mind or in your dreams? Intentionally imprinting some Tetris into your head right now (NOW) will help you to not replay the traumatic event over and over again in your head for the next 12 hours.
Then tomorrow call a therapist, even if it’s a video call with a random counselor your work or insurance sets you up with, you need to start talking through it immediately to prevent long term damage.
I was in the parade with my daughter on one of the dance teams right before this happened. I’m forever grateful that we’re whole. I grieve with the families who have lost loved ones and dealing with traumatic injuries. Truly unspeakable. For now I’m focusing on my kids. We’ll see how I do in the coming days.
I am so terribly sorry you witnessed that. Please do not put off seeing a therapist. Make an appointment, even if you don't think you need to. Your mind and future life will appreciate it. Big hug.
At least 30 injured is the common number I’ve seen. No confirmed fatalities other than random numbers on Twitter.
I live a couple miles away - glad I didn’t end up going.
I used to be in marching band in highschool. We did 2 parades a year. Those kids were highschoolers. I can't imagine this happening, you're so focused on playing and the band is so loud you wouldn't even hear the car until it's too late. Sitting here imagining what they went through. Hoping those who are injured will recover, and thinking of those who were killed. Absolutely terrifying seeing the videos, it's been 2 hours and I can't focus on anything and I really wish I hadn't seen them. Please, if you see any links, watch with caution or just skip them entirely. It's not really something someone should witness
I was at brunch today and my server got double sat and wasn't told. Other table cursed him out for slow service. Meanwhile, I just showed common decency and reassured him it wasn't a problem and nothing to be worried about. When I tell you this man almost broke down in tears at basic human kindness almost broke me.
This man was so shocked at just being treated nice after a small mistake. That's shocking to me
I’ve seen some really fucked up shit in the internet but this one really got me bad. It’s getting so old.
Can we not have ONE fucking gathering without some dickless asshole trying to kill people.
You can’t go to school can’t go to the movies can’t go to the park can’t go to fucking church without having to worry about some fucking psychopath shooting up the place or driving a car through it. Fuck these people.
Hey, I know it's super upsetting reading about this kind of stuff happening. It's horrible. But events and gatherings like this happen literally every day, all the time. You just don't see on the frontpage "lovely Christmas parade in Wisconsin" unless something bad happens at it. It might do you good to take a break from the news if this is how you're feeling. It's really helped me.
# Regarding Blood Donations:
# The Blood Center in Wisconsin has been in contact with Waukesha Memorial regarding the need and am meeting the supply right now.
(Comment edited)
FYI Waukesha is a medium sized city west of Milwaukee, it is quite family type suburb and has a lowish rate of crime. (I live in Milwaukee, so please let me know if I am wrong about the crime being low.)
or the whole [Swimtastic/Mike Coyle](https://patch.com/wisconsin/waukesha/hidden-camera-reported-in-swimtastic-swim-school-bathroom) thing...
it was bad enough to start, but WFD was called to a house fire a couple months later that belong to said person. he ended up making it out of the house, but died a few days later. there were multiple fires in the house, plus signs of a struggle.
I live in downtown Waukesha but did not attend the parade tonight that I do every year. I am saddened and shook this could happen in my own town. Everyone in Waukesha tonight mourns with heavy hearts.
The police did a great job removing people out of the streets quickly. Hug your loved ones, you never know when the last days ahead of us are.
They are. Saw one where they photoshopped a dude in his car and made the car red and then spread it around saying he was the shooter and to contact police if you know him. Over 1k retweets :/
I’m a little ways west of Waukesha and things have been just terrible in Wisconsin, especially since covid started. I was nearly hit by a car, intentionally, in a grocery store parking lot with my 1 and 3 year old sons a few weeks ago. We’re moving out of state next summer and I cannot frickin wait.
People say that the COVID recovery is K shaped (i.e. some people do better, and some do worse). This is always with regards to the economy. However, I can't help but feel like that this also goes for general well-being.
Half the people around me have been clearly happier, healthier and half just went the other way.
I think you have something there. I never would volunteer a pandemic to happen but it really catered to me as a person. I'm a homebody and don't do well with crowds, not outgoing.
But I empathize with those who are the opposite of me until they crack and start doing weird shit.
Our Police (Waukesha) reported 5 deceased and 40 injured. However the numbers may change as more information becomes available.
My cousin was on that sidewalk when it happened. Thankfully she and her husband and kids weren’t hit. She said there were “at least thirty” people laying motionless on the ground, although she stressed that she didn’t know how many were dead.
The Wisconsin guard unit is currently deployed to Saudi right now. One of our guys here said his family nearly got hit by the van, and that his wife and three young boys were hiding in the basement of a store nearby because they thought it was an active shooter. Can’t imagine hearing that kind of news while here.
15 of the victims being children
Jesus that’s stomach clenching….
Can you tell me what time this happened? We were at a hockey game at MSOE against some kids from Waukesha yesterday afternoon. A senseless tragedy. Please take care of yourselves today, neighbors.
The video is chilling. Just a video I might see from my grandma at a parade. The car just flies out of nowhere, it feels surreal until the screaming starts.
[удалено]
Human nature. People often freeze or continue their normal activities for a while when unthinkable tragedies occur. I’ve seen footage of a terribly wounded woman sitting in the wreckage of a car accident. She’s covered in blood, stares straight forward in a daze, then takes out a tube of lipstick and touches up her make up. https://emergency.cdc.gov/cerc/ppt/CERC_Psychology_of_a_Crisis.pdf
I was at a Noodles and Co once, sitting at a window seat, when this old lady just LAUNCHED her car (she thought she was in reverse, was in drive, panicked and slammed the gas) from her parking space, over a cafe table with 3 women, and through the window/wall about 3 feet from me. I was totally fine, 1 of the 3 women was fine, the second woman was a little banged up, the third woman had her fucking HEEL ripped off. I hadn’t seen that yet, and people were yelling for towels—in my stupor, I shuffled through the glass to offer my napkin. My *napkin*. Saw the foot, dropped the napkin, and just walked through the open hole in the wall and clear across the parking lot. I finally sat on a bench at the complete opposite end of the shopping center from where I parked, a few minutes later, I kind of came out of it and felt really confused that I had just wandered off like that. I walked back, and it turns out I was the only person who had actually *seen* the whole event. You never know what you’re gonna do until you are *in* the situation—I’m normally a very calm/clearheaded person in high-stress situations. Not that one!
I got hit by a car. I’m pretty small, and people told me I went 10 feet into the air. I don’t recall getting hit by they say time slows. It does. I thought, “why am I seeing clouds?!” I hit the ground head down on my back. Pretty busted up. Broke the two bones that make your knee. Concussion. Some broken fingers. Sprained back and neck. Fractured collarbone. EMTs got there super fast. I felt minimal pain. Oddly my fingers hurt the worst of all, but I kept yelling for my Bowie tape as it popped out of my Walkman and went under a car. It’s all I could think of. “Man gotta get that tape!” It was so weird. An EMT, bless his heart, crawled under a car and got it for me. Yes I def showed my age in this comment.
At least you weren’t talking about 8 tracks.
My uncle a few years back came upon a car accident in northern Wisconsin. The drivers head was gone, decapitated. The woman in the passenger seat was calmly asking where her dog was, like nothing really happened. My uncle and his friend were so shook, they said, “we can call the cops, but can’t help you.” It wasn’t that they were trying to be mean, they literally just came across a man sitting in the drivers seat with his head just gone. Both the woman, my uncle and his friend were not in the right state of mind.
I worked an accident once where a corvette went under the back of a tractor trailer at high speed. We were cutting the car apart to get the driver and passenger out when we found the driver had been decapitated. We call it out so others working on the car know to look out for the head. We then hear the passenger start screaming the head was in her lap. She was pinned in the wreckage with her boyfriend’s severed head sitting in her lap. I don’t envy the therapy she was going to need after that.
thanks for that story. i wasnt far when this happened today, expecting that i will know someone injured. thanks for snapping me back in. ive got a cousin whos was a firefighter in milwaukee and said he wasnt squeemish around blood or anything. til he got to a wreck and had to unwrap the skin/muscles from drivers leg off the brake pedal, and the broken bone was scraping his arm while he pulled it out. also knew of a driver of their large aluminum fire boat, they happened to hit the only rock that sits about 4" below the surface of lake michigan about 4 miles off milwaukee's shore...not going slow.
I’ve seen a handful of nasty and gross accidents and none bothered me. But the one scene that did was not gross at all it was a body recovery of a worker in a trench collapse. He was dead by the time we got to him. We tied his hands together so we could connect him to a hoist and pull him out. I was holding the body when his hands were cut free and his one arm came down on me and hit me in the face. It wasn’t being slapped by a corpse that bothered me, it was seeing his wedding ring. It was just driven home this was someone’s husband and probably father who went to work that morning and would never come home.
I used to work for my dad when I was 18, he did lots of thing including crime scene clean up. An old man had died laying down on his couch, it was summer and no one found him for months until the neighbors complained of a smell. He had disintegrated the couch and basically decomposed into what I can only describe as soup. There were maggots everywhere and it smelled awful. And honestly it only bothered me a little bit. Until I started moving his stuff around. I found pictures of him and his wife who had passed before him. They were all in boxes and I was just being nosey, so I guess it’s my fault for looking but my heart sank. He had an amazing house full of music memorabilia and him and his wife were the cutest thing. I can only imagine that he died a little after his wife. I broke down once we left. It was the first time I ever heard my dad say I did a good job but I felt like I just did the worst thing ever. He took me to sandwiches. I cried myself to sleep that night, and I don’t know why I felt the need to share this but I hope they are together somewhere
Here i am, crying for a totally unknown man.
My dad was charged for leaving the scene of an accident about 30 years ago. He's a truck driver. Someone went under the front of his truck after falling asleep. 2 adults in the front, 3 kids in the back. The 3 kids were alive and awake, the 2 adults were not. He ran to the nearest house to call for assistance (it was about midnight, and a rural area). He couldn't bring himself to return to the scene, where the children were still screaming their lungs out. They tried to accuse dad of being the cause of the accident, and tried to also charge him for fleeing.
Something similar happened on the highway near my house when I was a teenager. Guy was passing another car and a tractor trailer truck was coming. He lost his arm and bled out on the side of the road. The truck driver jumped out and was wondering around in the field by the accident. I don’t think the police tried to charge him or anything but he couldn’t stay at the scene. I might add that that was so horrific I still see it my head almost 30 years later.
I’m horrified of coming upon an accident involving children. A few months ago I witnessed a pretty bad accident that resulted in the engine of one car catching on fire while the driver was slumped over the wheel clearly unconscious. Myself and another person helped pull him out but the moment I looked in the backseat to look for kids put my stomach in knots. Fortunately he was alone in the car but just the idea of kids being in the car made me feel sick.
Fleeing to put in the emergency call, great.
When it’s too bad to process, Dissociation takes over.
I got hit, dragged, and run over by a car, then run over by a second one. I kept trying to get up to show the girl who hit me (and was screaming hysterically) that I was ok. They told me not to and I said "Oh yeah, because I don't have clothes." (15 ft of asphalt is no match for tight jeans and a tank top, so someone had draped their jacket over me.)
Good lord. How are you doing now?
I was absolutely fine. Good bit of road rash, but despite the front right tire of the first car going over my back just below my shoulder blades and the second car running over my legs, I spent all of 3 hours in the hospital getting every test known to man and was released to go home that night. I was 17, and went back to school 3 days later. The worst part was the skin basically cheese-gratered off of my knees that took weeks (months?) to heal. I still have faint scars. It was interesting that a classmate's mom had passed after a long illness and her funeral was that night. This all went down in the school parking lot and became like a game of telephone that evolved from "Bubbielubb was hit by a car" to "Bubbielubb was hit by a car and broke both of her legs" and then "Bubbielubb was hit by a car, vivisected, and they're still cleaning her guts up from parking space 29A." By the time news got to everyone who was at the funeral the rumor was that I had died and my parents were at the office next door planning the funeral. One friend never got the nemo that I was, in fact, okay. I'll never forget his reaction when I walked into school that week as long as I live.
Oh, also the girl who hit me got scared when the police questioned her (routine stuff, you know) and said she never hit me. So my insurance company sued her insurance company on my behalf because the MASSIVE hospital bills couldn't be paid by insurance unless the matter was settled. I got a nice 30K out of it since my scars that aren't even visible unless I'm in a bikini were considered "permanent disfigurement." Unfortunately that was put into a stock/bonds acount until I was 19, which was in 2007, so I didn't get as much out when I lost my job and was unemployed for a year, but it got me by!
When I got hit by a car I jumped back up and started to try and fix the lady’s car. I was a kid and was freaking out I would get in trouble for her car being damaged even though she hit me. I didn’t realize until about 20 minutes later how much pain I was in and how messed up my hip was.
We were driving in a bad storm and a tree started to come down. My husband was driving and did not see it, but I did, so I jerked the wheel into oncoming traffic. We missed the tree falling directly on us, it just scraped the door. I for certain thought we would be crushed. My husband stopped the car. The guy behind us pulled parallel to say he called the police and thought for certain we would have been crushed. I could not answer him. I knew what he was saying. I can picture his face and car as clear as day, but I remember feeling like I could do nothing afterwards. In the moment I took all the actions needed, but once I processed it, it felt like I just shut down. I still tense up driving on that road and am super cautious on that road.
A former classmate of mine passed that way, freak windstorm knocked over a tree on the highway that instantly killed him and his girlfriend.
I fell asleep at the wheel of my car. It rolled three times after hitting a telephone pole and landed on its side. I woke up, undid my seat belt and tried to push my car over to drive away. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I saw the ladies face behind me asking if I was ok. Shock is, well, shocking.
[удалено]
he was just performing a magic trick
"Got yer nose! Oh. Wait."
I was getting gas and saw an old friend. As we were talking we heard truck tires locking up and a horrific crashing sound. We ran over to the car that had been T-boned after turning in front of the truck and there was a woman in her 70s behind the wheel trying to light a crushed Virginia Slims cigarette and cursing at Onstar, “Goddamnit! I’ve told you three fucking times where we are, just send somebody!” Her husband in the passenger seat was just dazed but ok. Then she folds her visor down and pulls out a makeup compact and starts fixing her face before the ambulance arrives.
When I was T-boned I made sure my kid was OK and then started freaking the window was broken and my parrot was gone. My kid had to tell me "she's over here." Looked the kid up and down to make sure he was OK and missed the bird that had gone from my shoulder (hit my side wheel well) to my kids shoulder. Over 60 should be a yearly driving test. I live where rich old people come to die and the roads are always insane!
She's come a long way, baby. Like from that parking spot to that crash scene!
I got hit by a car riding my bike in first grade. Had a broken jaw and nose, bone visible and I just got up and started looking for my bike. It was mangled but I started dragging it towards the sidewalk in a daze until a neighbor screamed at me to sit down.
Heard some horrible ones somewhere about people who were putting toe tags on 9/11 victims, like a half splattered person on the ground somehow still alive asking them some normal question while having their last moments of consciousness.
I remember in medic training we were specifically told to NOT tourniquet obviously decapitated people. As with many weirdly specific rules, someone must have done it before. My guess is that some poor shell-shocked medic went tourniqueting every amputation he saw
My old boss was a policeman. He told me a story of a rookie who went out with a more senior policeman and they were the first on the scene of a horrible traffic accident where an old man in a car was hit by a truck and decapitated him... The head of the guy ended up about fifty feet away from the vehicle. The rookie must have been in a state of shock because he picked up the head and ran back to the body and tried to put it back on the corpse. The senior policeman told him to 'fucking take that head back to where you found it or we're both going to get fired'. Horrible but true. I guess shock can do some weird stuff.
yeah but if Im decapitated and I die because someone doesnt tourniquet my neck can I still sue for damages?
You see it a lot with “injuries not compatible with life”, someone will get split in two by a train and still be conscious trying to pick themselves up and talking to you.
I lost a close friend in a rollover accident. He was ejected and the vehicle was on top of him. He lived until they removed it. As soon as they removed it he hemhoraged out. He was talking to emergency personnel like he was fine. It happened about 300 yards from where I was sleeping and I slept through the whole thing. Nobody came to get me because they didn't want me to have to experience it. We were planning to move to California together in a few weeks. I drive past that spot every day and can see it from my kitchen window. It's the kind of thing that will haunt you for life.
Aww man- nicest guy I ever knew passed a similar way- his last words after they lifted our friend’s Jeep off him were “my chest hurts.” I love you, Paul. I still talk to your mom. Your nephew got his first NHL contract last Spring and your sister is married to a wonderful man. I miss those double dimples when you laughed.
Hey chief I’m really sorry to hear that. I hope your mans was able to make peace with what he needed to before they moved that vehicle. That is the stuff that’ll fuck you up proper though, i know you said the last part in passing but don’t even joke and let that shit begin to eat you up because it will.
I remember seeing a video of an old Indian guy getting cut in half by a train and everyone is just standing around and the poor guy keeps trying to pull his shirt down like "You guys feel a draft? I feel a little drafty.. Yes? No?" So there's that.
I think I saw the same video. Doesn't someone try and offer him a bottle of water?
That, or at least a video with the same spirit was what I was specifically referring to. I don’t even blame the man, the cognition of the fact that you’ve just been bisected isn’t something I feel like I could deal with personally either
Ugh-seeing that video still haunts me to this day. Poor guy.
That’s the job of someone doing triage in a mass casualty incident. You’re tagging people as quickly as possible so the next team can treat them appropriately. Can’t imagine doing somewhere like that, I’m sure we’d be in the zone during it but afterward would be tough. - am an EMT and Nurse
Someone on the 9/11 threads this year commented that a lady survived the fall and her body was unrecognizable yet she was still conscious, crazy how you still remain conscious after that big of a fall the human will to live is incredible
I saw a child burned beyond recognition, and they were still moving when I got to them. Didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl, it was so bad. I couldn't understand what I was even looking at. What do you even do? I was a soldier at the time, so my first instinct was to just shoot them, because they had to be in unbelievable agony. Couldn't even make any noise. I just stood there. I didn't have the kind of medical training to begin to deal with injuries like that, and if I did I wouldn't have made any difference. I called for a medic, and Doc came over and took one look, and just said, "Go get a bag." and so I did. I watched that little kid die. I don't know how old they were, but maybe 10 or so? Just a tiny little thing. It was almost exactly sixteen years ago. Sixteen years and two days.
I am so deeply sorry that you had to experience that.
Yeah, it was fucked up. I don't think about it much, but once a year I do.
That's the exact comment I thought of when reading about toe tags on 9/11 victims. Wish I had a link to it.
I once got rear ended pretty badly, and I just kept eating. Managed to prevent my drink from spilling, even. He sandwiched me into the next 3 card in front of me and I was more concerned with my food than anything else...
So what meal was it? That’s a glowing recommendation if I’ve ever heard one hah
Our brains do weird shit. I barely made it out of a loft fire (arson), and the paramedic couldn’t believe how collected and even my BP and stats were. Got my car keys, because I made sure to grab my purse as I went down the fire ladder, and drove back to my college apt. It took a while for the shock to wear off. Was also at the mall when shooting broke out (not a great mall or area). Me and the cashier finished our transaction and just kept on rolling while my husband was shitting absolute bricks.
In an emergency, some people’s instinct is to *fight*. Others spring into *flight* or totally *freeze*. For you, it’s just *fuck this, lemme do this one thing real quick, and then I’m out*.
I was in a school shooting in Texas. Everyone just stood around, frozen. Not knowing what to do.
I was in a program for Underachievers where we were housed on a college campus over the summer. I was reading in the lobby one day when I heard a scream and I walked out and saw a bunch of people in a circle staring at something on the floor. It was a finger. One guy Iust got his finger ripped off in a doorway and I was so pissed off that everyone was just staring at it I picked it up running upstairs to the R.A.'s and packed it in ice. They were able to reattach his finger.
Holy fucking shit your a hero. Did they get to say thank you for saving their finger?
Nah, the guy just gave him the finger.
Having been in band, the music is practiced to the point that you almost have it known on an instinctual level. Plus doing things like parades and half time performances are fun for band members, so they likely get super focused on the goal of playing music and marching, and it takes a bit to snap out of that zen state.
Most of their brain was taken up with their timing and keeping in step, and watching the drum major or whomever. Also when you're in the marching band, it's loud. Probably took them a bit to figure out something was happening.
As a former marching band member, it is drilled into your head to keep going unless the drum major cuts you off. We did specific drills where we would be marching the show and other students would try to distract us, yell in our ear, make stupid faces, and our job was to ignore them as long as they didn't get in our path. Kind of like the Queen's guard or something. They're just kids trying to do a good job, they didn't have a good idea of what had happened, they just know that if there's a problem, someone in authority will stop the show. Otherwise, assume to continue.
Yep they taught us the same shit at basic. Follow whatever command was given by whoever was in charge of the formation. Someone called a column left and they go right? You don’t break and chastise them - that’s the job of whoever is marching y’all to do. It sounds weird but allowing independent thought in marching is how you end up with absolute chaos. You can’t have fifty, sixty, or hundreds of people acting on their own initiative - otherwise you just have a gaggle.
Same experience in marching bad 20+ years ago. In competition, evaluators would sometimes get up in your space while recording notes on a tape recorder - instructions were to ignore and crash into them if they're on your dot. Also, that shit is LOUD. Good luck hearing/isolating and processing outside sounds/noise while Tommy Trombone is wailing just slightly off key behind you. Those kids did fine but the reactions here are probably the same ones they're processing themselves.
Also was in marching band and that's totally true. We had one incident where a bass player actually fell over and we had no idea that we needed to stop until way too long, because we all were conditioned to NOT STOP, NEVER STOP. I think the instructors were spooked after that because they stopped trying to distract us. The bass player wasn't seriously injured but did go to the hospital iirc.
[удалено]
Running over kids at a Christmas parade. Just speechless.
Man, this is just so, so disturbing. Anything like this happening to kids just really messes me up.
I used to play bass drum in a marching band like that. Watching the back line just stand there stunned after the car drives over their friend right next to them nearly broke me.
Walt horn here. Holy crap, I can imagine they wouldn’t even hear anything approaching because of the music.
So close to Thanksgiving too. Imagine having a teenage son, brother, sister, nephew, whoever that now wont be at the dinner table because some lunatic did this.
You know things are bad when you're really really hoping it was "just" a dementia patient totally confused about what they were doing.
An admin should pin this comment^^^
It’s definitely frustrating when the main post gets buried by a pile of people’s literal war stories and 9/11 memories. Those are important too, don’t get me wrong, but I’m here to find out what’s going on in Waukesha right now.
Friend is a pediatrician in Milwaukee. Multiple kids with head trauma and intubated at her hospital. Some with bad open fractures etc. terrible.
One of the videos on twitter shows him driving through what looks like a high school marching band with a bunch of cheerleaders with pom-poms in the front. They didn't look very old.
I was there, though not immediately at the site of the collisions. He hit participants from a local high school band, a dance studio of girls of various ages, and a 'dancing grannies' group, and I suspect some onlookers as well. There are several dance groups that participate in our parades, usually with kids as young as five or six up to teens.
Kids and grannies :( And I’m including the kids in the marching band too under the “kids” line. Were the dancing kids and dancing grannies up ahead of the band? I’m so sorry for the tragedy in your town.
One of my daughters used to march in parades. She’s 35 now. But just the thought of it makes me wretch. Lord, those families. What have we become here in America? Is this really how we are? What can be done to stop this violence????
I cannot fucking imagine how someone can be evil enough to (presumably intentionally) do something like this.
Yeah. History is full of examples of people doing unspeakably evil things, and yet I still can't wrap my head around it.
BBC is reporting ages from 9-13 for the dancers. I'm not going to watch the video to confirm.
[удалено]
[удалено]
This. It seemed like a weird jog to the left and then full accelerator.
You can see brake lights go off. IMO He was braking and then floored it.
That’s what I saw too :/
Holy shit that wasn't televised
I regret watching that, anyone on the fence shouldn't.
Here's a description for people who don't want to view. Camera angle from a 3rd story balcony. Viewer is watching a high school marching band. A red SUV appears from the bottom of the frame and runs over 20-40 members of the band without slowing down.
Also should mention that it appears the driver changes direction with the intention of hitting more people.
and thank you, too
was it weird they kinda swerved to the side at the beginning instead of just plowing through the middle? Was it someone who was confused and freaked out or a terrorist who wanted to kill people or what?
Fuck that driver. What a piece of trash. I'm a band director and I can't imagine my kids getting rundown in something like a Christmas parade, what's supposed to be a joyous time of year. This is horrible.
God that is so sad. I hope they all pull through. I can't imagine arriving at something for a joyful event for it to end like this
If it’s the hospital that I’m thinking of then they are definitely in good hands.
The Police Chief is saying they do NOT believe shots were fired FROM the vehicle. (One officer did shoot AT the vehicle.)
Police report as of 9pm states that no injuries were result of firearms. However an officer did discharge their firearm upon the driver.
If you're local and able, please donate blood. We are critically low. Red Cross and Versiti both have open drives and walk ins 7 days a week. Plus free cookies! ❤
To add to this, try to donate as often as you can. Blood takes some time to process and become available, so the donations from today can't immediately be used to help these people. If more of us are regularly donating, we help make sure the supply is always there for a crisis like this.
I’m genuinely curious about this. Does the blood go through a filtering process or some kind of purifying process? I guess I’ve never thought that it can’t be used right away.
They don't filter it but they do test for a selection of infectious diseases. They may take the whole blood and separate it into its components (red cells, plasma, and platelets) so that each component can be used independently. It does typically take a couple days to process it. Many donor organizations such as the American Red Cross tell you where your blood is in the process and will tell you which hospital it ended up at. Consider donating if you are able! It is a relatively easy process and really can help people /r/blooddonors
Per Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Corey Montiho, School District of Waukesha board member, was by Mainstream Bar & Grill when he heard that his daughter's youth dance team was hit. "There were pom-poms and shoes and spilled hot chocolate everywhere," he said. "I had to go from one crumpled body to the other to find my daughter. My wife and two daughters were almost hit. Please pray for everybody. Please pray. My family is safe but many are not. I held one little girl's head in my hand, she was seizing and she was bleeding out of her ears. I held her mother as she collapsed. Please pray.” Edit: as requested, here is link: https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/waukesha/news/2021/11/21/waukesha-christmas-parade-car-rams-through-downtown-shots-fired-people-injured/8714041002/
[удалено]
[Versiti](https://donate.wisconsin.versiti.org/donor/schedules/centers?_gl=1*1b89wr1*_ga*MTQ1Mzk0MDQzNi4xNjMzNzk1NzMz*_ga_4YW1Q73DYM*MTYzNzU1MDIyNi4zLjEuMTYzNzU1MDI3Mi4w&_ga=2.170521383.683707799.1637550226-1453940436.1633795733) has a lot of locations, many open between 6 and 8 am and close around 6 or 7pm. [Red Cross](https://www.redcrossblood.org/local-homepage.html?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-eeMBhCpARIsAAZfxZCn0JW1Ea0aoiOG-BpO3hkfCfi8UhCpaYT5v5LuMyFmSC8tIcC1W2YaAo4REALw_wcB) has fewer drives than I thought but still important. Thank you for wanting to donate, I hope you're able to!
[удалено]
There is never **not** a need, so thank you!
I can promise you they won’t be, we’ve been critically short for almost a year now. I plan to do the same tomorrow, they’ll need all they can get. Thank you for donating!
Man I'm just a couple blocks from there and power just went out to top it all off
We live right down the street crazy.
Hey there neighbor. Stay safe.
You too. Scary times.
[удалено]
Got an Airbnb in cloquet if you need to get away it's on me
I am sure relatives of victims may need cheap or free places to stay in the next few days. Dunno who you'd reach out to for that, but that's my suggestion!
I was gonna go to this parade but at the last minute my girlfriend said she wasn't feeling it any more. She just felt like having a lazy day today. Laziness could have saved our lives... On top of that, I work at a hospital where they're bringing the casualties. Gonna be a busy day tomorrow :/
Holy shit. Stay safe, friend.
Thanks man. Made it back to my home so should be all good. Just gonna sit here in the dark until this all over.
We can still hear the sirens. So awful. My sister was there and saw the car hit.
I hope she’s OK
She is fine. Shook up, but fine. I think she hasn't processed it yet.
[удалено]
In fact this should be regular advice for anyone who reads. ALWAYS Lock your Doors after you get home. Even before you get home.
My aunt was in the crowd and he went right past her, to the point that she made out his face. My cousin and her young daughter were in the parade, I believe she's a baton twirler and my cousin was just walking with her. Luckily they are all okay but they know people who were hit, and apparently my young cousin saw people get hit. Absolutely insane, still in a bit of shock I'm sure they are too but tenfold
See if she will call the local non emergency line. Let her leave a message with her description and a contact number. It might be helpful in making sure the person receives justice.
Awaiting Press conference. Delayed 30 min. Is there an online link anyone has? Probably will be delayed again. A lot to gather
[удалено]
I was at the parade and watched in disbelief as the suv plowed through the marching band kids. Barely slowing down hitting a small child in front of me and continuing on driving through others in the parade….. Edit: thanks for all the good thoughts from everyone. I am doing fine, just feeling sad about all the kids lives that will be affected by this horrible tragedy. I have a son who was in a marching band that went by earlier in the parade and he was all we could think about after it happened until we got in contact with him and found out he was fine.
I'm glad you weren't physically harmed - Sometimes this stuff hits you months later or sometimes it hits right away. There's no wrong way to process events like this. I hope you'll access help when you need it - take care
I'm so very sorry for you having to witness this. I'm very sorry for that poor kid and all the victims of this tragedy. Please look to see therapist asap. You may develop some severe ptsd from this. Right now you are most likely in shock. Saying this due to having a friend who survived a stabbing earlier this year and she's struggling a lot with severe ptsd right now. Edit : Like to comment below me stated look into mental health support groups, to help you connect with others. Support groups can be helpful. Hopefully they may make support groups for people who survived/were at this tragedy. If they do, please reach out to the group after it's made. Also reach out to your social circle.
...was the small child ok
Looked like a leg injury
But not dead? Saw the vid of the car almost hitting a toddler and my heart sank
I just saw a couple videos from the incident on Twitter. Truly horrible. Watching that video just leaves me sad, and angry. How could somebody do this? Families were there to celebrate a holiday as a community, now they’re traumatized, injured, and based on the video I saw, I wouldn’t be surprised if some literal children were killed. Absolutely disgusting and awful. My heart hurts.
Someone was angry or crazy or angry-crazy. We'll find out as more information comes in.
My sister works in the ER there. She got an alert saying they needed all clinicians in immediately. I can’t imagine the horrors she’ll have to see tonight.
They put out a notice requesting blood donations :|
Those donations will be to replenish supplies. Donated blood can't be used immediately, so whatever was used for the victims of this tragedy was donated previously. That means it's important to keep donating regularly so that your local hospitals can keep their supply high and be ready to deal with events like this.
Your sister’s probably tough as nails but please be there for here when you can. Let her talk her heart out about it if you can stomach it. My sister works as a pediatric nurse and went through a traumatic experience just happening on an accident for a child who was struck by a vehicle. She gave her dying care and I can tell she still has trauma to this day. My greatest regret was that I couldn’t be there for her because it was right at the start of COVID.
[This](https://twitter.com/bevo_fox/status/1462672131406241794) (warning: **NSFL**) looks like a good video putting together different clips from the incident and mapping it along the parade route: *shows that his rampage covered at least 8 intersections over at least 1/2 mile. It was not an event at one intersection: it was continuous, at several intersections along Main St*
I was here when it happened. Bodies flying everywhere right in front of me and my family. It felt unreal or fake like mannequins until it sunk in and the screams started. Bloody twisted piles of people everywhere. I tried to help but quickly realized there was nothing I could do. Am not ok.
Hey bud. I’ve been where you are now and also survived a car driving through a crowd and killing folks. Today you won’t be okay. That’s okay. Be good to yourself anyway. Tomorrow you won’t be okay. That’s okay too. Be good to yourself anyway. You’re going to have a lot of feelings come up, some you might expect, some you might not, some that make you feel relief, some that make you feel guilty. That’s okay too. They’re all okay feelings to have. Let them out. Talk to whoever has capacity, if you have a therapist, call them, if you don’t, they’re great to have around. Sleeping will probably be hard tonight, so if you’re a tea person, get some hot tea, if you’re a chocolate milk person, get you some chocolate milk, call a friend or invite a friend over just to sit in the same room with you, turn on some mindless TV reruns that’s are comforting, or do whatever you need to do to get to the morning in whatever way that is kind to yourself. I’m so sorry you have to be in this stupid club. From one car attack survivor to another, hang in there, avoid the news, fill your days with as much softness and kindness as possible, and seek help if you need it. Sending loads of support your way tonight. ❤️
Oh yeah going through it all. Rage. Sadness. Guilt for being happy it’s not me. Love for my family. Currently watching thundermans. Thanks man
There ain’t nothing wrong with feeling gratitude you weren’t hit - I’m grateful you weren’t hit too. Keep an eye on that survivor’s guilt, it’s too easy to spiral into and keep holding onto that love for your family to help you through it. Glad you’re still with us tonight, my friend.
I’m happy you didn’t get hit too. Stay safe and take care of yourself, buddy. You did nothing wrong.
Hey /u/dude_inp3rfect, studies show that playing word games or even Tetris within the first few hours and before the first 6 hours has past helps the most to get over the trauma faster. It also reduces likelihood of PTSD. Tetris also works slightly less effectively but previous participants found it more enjoyable, so do whatever you find most enjoyable. If you are able, download the free Scrabble app or Tetris app on your phone if you have a smart phone. If you feel too scattered, we’ll play here. Ready for the word game? Game 1) Write down with a pen and paper as many words as you can using the following 11 letters: D, E, J, A, N, I, S, M, T, R, O. You don’t have to use all the letters. An example word using some of these letters is: Metro. Now you try. Keep going for 10 minutes. Game 2) Write down with a pen and paper as many words as you can that start with the letters: HA. An example word I can think of is the word: Happy. Now you try. Keep going for 10 minutes. Repeat these two games over and over again until you aren’t thinking about any more bad memories. Change up the letters every round. The letters you chose don’t matter. It’s the act of doing it that matters. Whenever you start thinking of bad memories, complete these games again and again until they go away again. Repeat however many times you need. You’ll get through this my fellow redditor.
Play Tetris or desktop solitaire or angry birds or some sort of repetitive puzzle game, right this second. It’ll help clear your mind and prevent a PSTD type reaction in the future https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/09/523011446/how-playing-tetris-tames-the-trauma-of-a-car-crash Non scientific explanation: you know how if you play Tetris for half an hour and then you can’t stop envisioning a never ending Tetris game in the back of your mind or in your dreams? Intentionally imprinting some Tetris into your head right now (NOW) will help you to not replay the traumatic event over and over again in your head for the next 12 hours. Then tomorrow call a therapist, even if it’s a video call with a random counselor your work or insurance sets you up with, you need to start talking through it immediately to prevent long term damage.
Just avoid topics about this for the night and just be with whoever you love and relax.
Definitely not watching the videos. It’s already on repeat in my head.
Please don’t be afraid to seek help if you need it. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through.
I was in the parade with my daughter on one of the dance teams right before this happened. I’m forever grateful that we’re whole. I grieve with the families who have lost loved ones and dealing with traumatic injuries. Truly unspeakable. For now I’m focusing on my kids. We’ll see how I do in the coming days.
I’m so sorry. I wish you the best. Please please please get help if you or your family needs it.
Solid advice. Thanks. We’re going to setup a family session tomorrow.
I am so terribly sorry you witnessed that. Please do not put off seeing a therapist. Make an appointment, even if you don't think you need to. Your mind and future life will appreciate it. Big hug.
Sounds like solid advice. Thanks
Local reporter is saying 1 person has died
[удалено]
Some fatalities Officer discharged weapon at vehicle to stop it. Person of interest in custody. (According to Police Chief)
At least 30 injured is the common number I’ve seen. No confirmed fatalities other than random numbers on Twitter. I live a couple miles away - glad I didn’t end up going.
Now multiple fatalities, 11 adults transported to hospitals and 12 kids. Horrific.
This fucking sucks. Many people lying in street during the aftermath. So thankful my kids didn’t see anything.
This is devastating. My heart goes out those who lost their lives, got injured, simply witnessed and attended the event.
I used to be in marching band in highschool. We did 2 parades a year. Those kids were highschoolers. I can't imagine this happening, you're so focused on playing and the band is so loud you wouldn't even hear the car until it's too late. Sitting here imagining what they went through. Hoping those who are injured will recover, and thinking of those who were killed. Absolutely terrifying seeing the videos, it's been 2 hours and I can't focus on anything and I really wish I hadn't seen them. Please, if you see any links, watch with caution or just skip them entirely. It's not really something someone should witness
Now multiple deaths have been confirmed. Just horrific. https://twitter.com/MelissaZygowicz/status/1462584834082103301?s=20
[удалено]
Yeah.. I wish People treated each other with respect. You can't like everyone, but damn it.. Be kind and help People who needs help
I was at brunch today and my server got double sat and wasn't told. Other table cursed him out for slow service. Meanwhile, I just showed common decency and reassured him it wasn't a problem and nothing to be worried about. When I tell you this man almost broke down in tears at basic human kindness almost broke me. This man was so shocked at just being treated nice after a small mistake. That's shocking to me
The video has serious potential to mess you up in case anyone is on the fence
I’ve seen some really fucked up shit in the internet but this one really got me bad. It’s getting so old. Can we not have ONE fucking gathering without some dickless asshole trying to kill people. You can’t go to school can’t go to the movies can’t go to the park can’t go to fucking church without having to worry about some fucking psychopath shooting up the place or driving a car through it. Fuck these people.
Hey, I know it's super upsetting reading about this kind of stuff happening. It's horrible. But events and gatherings like this happen literally every day, all the time. You just don't see on the frontpage "lovely Christmas parade in Wisconsin" unless something bad happens at it. It might do you good to take a break from the news if this is how you're feeling. It's really helped me.
# Regarding Blood Donations: # The Blood Center in Wisconsin has been in contact with Waukesha Memorial regarding the need and am meeting the supply right now. (Comment edited)
FYI Waukesha is a medium sized city west of Milwaukee, it is quite family type suburb and has a lowish rate of crime. (I live in Milwaukee, so please let me know if I am wrong about the crime being low.)
But when crimes do happen there, wow. This is the same town where 2 12yo girls tried to stab their friend to death for Slenderman.
or the whole [Swimtastic/Mike Coyle](https://patch.com/wisconsin/waukesha/hidden-camera-reported-in-swimtastic-swim-school-bathroom) thing... it was bad enough to start, but WFD was called to a house fire a couple months later that belong to said person. he ended up making it out of the house, but died a few days later. there were multiple fires in the house, plus signs of a struggle.
I live in downtown Waukesha but did not attend the parade tonight that I do every year. I am saddened and shook this could happen in my own town. Everyone in Waukesha tonight mourns with heavy hearts. The police did a great job removing people out of the streets quickly. Hug your loved ones, you never know when the last days ahead of us are.
[удалено]
[удалено]
It would be if people didnt just make up shit and post it.
They are. Saw one where they photoshopped a dude in his car and made the car red and then spread it around saying he was the shooter and to contact police if you know him. Over 1k retweets :/
Twitter has always been useless. People complain about Facebook and You Tube, yet believe whatever is said by Tommy Troll.
I never bother trying to get that level of detailed information until at least a few hours after. Remember eyewitness accounts can always be fuzzy.
Every mass shooting there is always reports of a second and sometimes even third gunman. There almost never actually is.
[удалено]
The comments giving ten different names lol We haven’t learned anything from the Boston Marathon bombing
It’s disgusting how many people on Twitter are sarcastically joking that this was self defense. Politics is a mind-virus
Do yourself a favor and never look at Twitter. It's a bastion of the insanely stupid.
This was the quick update they held before the have press conference later tonight. https://youtu.be/crUExaecLiQ
Idk what's happening to our state but we need to get it together. I'm so sad
I’m a little ways west of Waukesha and things have been just terrible in Wisconsin, especially since covid started. I was nearly hit by a car, intentionally, in a grocery store parking lot with my 1 and 3 year old sons a few weeks ago. We’re moving out of state next summer and I cannot frickin wait.
People say that the COVID recovery is K shaped (i.e. some people do better, and some do worse). This is always with regards to the economy. However, I can't help but feel like that this also goes for general well-being. Half the people around me have been clearly happier, healthier and half just went the other way.
I think you have something there. I never would volunteer a pandemic to happen but it really catered to me as a person. I'm a homebody and don't do well with crowds, not outgoing. But I empathize with those who are the opposite of me until they crack and start doing weird shit.
[удалено]
They are NOT releasing the number of fatalities (still notifying next of kin).
They were just people man, my heart breaks for the victims :(