Two nights before Christmas and my husband and I set off for a happily anticipated dinner at our favorite restaurant, just a block from our downtown apartment. Halfway up First Avenue we saw a man lying on the pavement next to one of those small, spindly trees that line the curb side of the street. He had a stubbly beard and wore a wool cap, a parka, jeans and heavy shoes. He leaned — uncomfortably, it appeared — on a fat backpack strapped to his shoulders. His eyes were closed. He did not make a sound, but he was breathing. He seemed totally comatose.
We immediately called 911 and in about two minutes a fire truck pulled up beside us. Four uniformed responders emerged and swung into action, assessing the man’s condition and moving him to a more sheltered part of the sidewalk, against the wall of the building there. We were quite impressed with the professionalism these rescuers displayed and, especially, the respectful way they treated the ailing man, who, one of them said, was inebriated and would be taken to detox.
Throughout dinner, we talked about what a good job these rescuers had done and how we would find some way to commend them. You can imagine our shock when, as we made our way home more than an hour and a half later, we found this very same man, still apparently comatose and still lying in the exact same spot where we had last seen him!
A deacon, Terry Marcell, at our church, Christ Our Hope, has a long history working with street people, so we called him. He said that we should call 911 again, so we did.
Sure enough, some 15 minutes later, a King County van pulled up. Two worn-looking attendants put the man inside and drove him away. By this time other concerned passers-by had joined us, all of us astounded that this fellow was allowed to lie on the pavement for so long, alone in the cold, soaked in his own urine and incapacitated.
As much as we would like an explanation, we would like even more to be sure that such a travesty never occurs again. Let’s brainstorm! Send in your ideas to [email protected]. Let’s see what we come up with to prevent more impaired people from lying alone on the street, especially on cold winter nights.