Never bite the hand that pulls you out of a burning car wreck. Well, that’s what my mom always told me. When someone is doing you a major favor, like say, saving your life, you could at least say “thanks.”
In the wee hours of a recent Wednesday morning while most of Uptown was sound asleep, two Loyola students risked their lives to save an ungrateful drunk driver from her burning car wreck. The trajectory of the accident was one that warranted an instant reply. The driver, who was driving without a license or insurance, was speeding down Saint Charles Avenue when she hit the newly-developed pothole colony in front of Vincent’s restaurant. She lost control and drove up on the neutral ground, where she hit a steel pole that suspends the streetcar cable. She ended up on the opposite side of St. Charles, slamming into two parked cars. Then her engine caught on fire.
As the two boys begged her to get out of her vehicle, I just stood there with a glass of water, ready to put out the fire with a six ounce cup. Psychology junior Devon Knoll then began to pull her through the window. There, in that darkness, with flames spewing from under the car at 3:30 a.m., he looked like Tom Cruise. He was her hero, but all she could do was curse at everyone in sight, demanding to get back in her car.
I’ve seen it before – the angry drunks. The people who are so embarrassed to admit they need help that they would rather die than get assistance.
But it gets worse in the case of this drunk driver. As the police appeared, she began to claim that Knoll was the driver of her car. She went so far as to incriminate her savior. That’s a new one for me.
Last year, I was standing outside of a bar when I saw a girl ride her bike into the back of an Econoline van. I grabbed some ice and ran it over to her. I noticed she was bleeding from her head. She pushed back the crowd that had gathered and tried to get back on her bike. Not only was she drunk, she was suffering from a concussion. As everyone went on with his or her business, I pulled her bike away and began to take it into the bar. She kicked, screamed, pulled my hair and got blood all over me, but far be it from me to read about this girl in the paper.
If you find yourself drunk, please let go of your pride, because you do need help sometimes. Let someone drive you home. Let your best friend hold your hair back. Take the water they offer you. You’d be pressed to find someone willing to get out of bed at 3:30 a.m. to pull you from a burning car. So if you ever do, please, say “thanks.”
Michelle Lopez is a communications junior from Miami.
