Maybe One Day It'll All Make Sense

Lives are being lost... and I just don't get it...

First, it's the terrorist act in London. I feel terrible about all the dead and missing. I am praying for their families. I'm also praying for the living, because they are left with that memory for the rest of their lives. I see the pictures on the news and online everyday. But nothing compares to being there, I know.

I know my experience yesterday is not anywhere near the scale of that tragedy, but it touched me, because it was close to home.... literally.


Woman killed, 3 injured during high-speed chase
Monday, July 11, 2005
Regina McEneryPlain Dealer Reporter

A high-speed chase Sunday left one woman dead, three injured and a tow-truck driver facing possible charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and involuntary manslaughter.

The events began shortly after 6 p.m. when a man driving a tow truck clipped a car on East 173rd Street in Cleveland's Lee-Harvard neighborhood, then fled, police Lt. Thomas Stacho said. Police spotted the truck a short time later, but called off the pursuit after the truck entered Warrensville Heights.

Stacho said the truck driver, identified as Mark Bingham, 37, of Cleveland, apparently turned around and headed back into Cleveland at a high rate of speed. His truck plowed into a white Cadillac at East 156th Street and Miles Road and flipped, trapping Bingham inside. The driver of the Cadillac, who was ejected from the car, died at the scene. A woman passenger in the car was taken to Huron Hospital in East Cleveland.

The force of the crash pushed the Cadillac into a third car, injuring an elderly man who was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center with head injuries. Bingham also was admitted to MetroHealth for head injuries.

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Know why the intersection is in bold? It's the corner of the street where I live. The accident happened 5 minutes AFTER I had driven through that same intersection on my way to my best friend's house. My next door neighbors ran toward the sounds of the crash because they all had just seen my brother and I leave going in that direction and just knew we were involved. The mangled mess of cars was still in the middle of the street at 8:15 when I came back home. I was turned around 2 blocks away from my house by Cleveland Police, went another way into my neighborhood and walked down to the scene. There was yellow "DO NOT CROSS" tape all over the place. All you could see was shattered glass, car parts, and remnants of what used to be a Cadillac and a flat bed tow truck. My neighbor across the street said he actually saw the accident. He said the woman driving the Cadillac flew through her windshield.

I guess this bothers me so much because if I had left my house even 2 minutes later than I did, I might be dead right now. That shit hits too close to home. Fa real.