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Be Careful Out There

Sergeant Phil Esterhaus: Hey, let’s be careful out there. —Hill Street Blues

Encountered a moment of intense fear but good old fashioned human kindness today.

Part of my commute involves the Rosslyn Metro. For those, not familiar with the subway system in our nation’s capital, a number of the stations are deeply underground. They have exceedingly tall escalators. We’re talking 3, 4, 5 stories deep. Rosslyn must be pretty close to the worst of the bunch. It’s a minor miracle that, given the number of daily commuters and how many rush headlong down those stairs, there aren’t many spectacular injuries (that I know of).

Well today a poor lady in front of me was the victim of the anti-miracle. We were both walking down at a reasonable pace, I was about two steps behind, and we were halfway down the escalator. She must have hit a stair edge, or slipped a heel or something.

And she started tumbling down the escalator. As I watched in horror she must have flipped over one or two times, before stopping, flat on her face, about 1/4 of the way down. Keep in mind the escalator is still moving, there are still people coming down, and she’s not really moving.

Along with a few other good samaritans, we catch up with the poor lady, get her to her feet before the end of the escalator, and help her move a few steps beyond the end. One person went back up to get the station manager and another called out to 911. As I’m giving her support, she was clearly dazed, confused and probably in shock. After a few minutes we got her over to a wall where she could lean for a spell and finally sit down. It wasn’t until then that she pulled up her pants leg and showed the horrific cuts from the escalator, and bruise that was already exploding. I would not be surprised if she hadn’t broken her leg.

Three or four of us stayed with her until station officials arrived. We gave our names and contact info and waited to see if any further assistance was needed. Luckily the EMT pros showed up in a short manner, with a stretcher, started immobilizing her leg, and took over the situation. We went our separate ways but it was an odd way to start the day.

Like Sgt. Esterhaus says “Hey, let’s be careful out there.” And let’s look out for one another.

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