Unsung heroes

Human beings never fail to amaze me.

Last night, Darren and I went to dinner down the hill in Palm Springs, like we love to do. The dinner was amazing, and cheesecake afterwards was decadent. Afterwards, we went to the movies to try to see Paul, but it was closed. Feeling defeated, we left. On the way back home, I saw police lights flashing behind me. I wasn't going to pull over until they were closer, but thought better of it, because it looked like they were coming fast. Thank God I had a turn lane next to me to pull into. Because not ten seconds after I pulled over, a green Mustang came FLYING (as in like 110 mph) past me, WITH NO HEADLIGHTS ON, followed by three police officers. I'm telling you, it was almost guaranteed that he would have hit me if I had waited any longer. I was thoroughly shaken, because I have been in two car accidents since I moved out here, and that one would have been a horrible one. I never even saw him coming. the only reason I even pulled off the road was because I saw police lights. Call me cliche, but that's the closest I've ever come to seeing my life flash before my eyes. It was terrifying. Darren and I were kind of joking about it, maybe it was a teenager out for a joy ride, joking about how much trouble the guy was in, etc. A few miles up the road, we saw that the car chase had ended. In a fiery explosion, in which a car was wrapped around a tree. Well, needless to say, I lost it. I went into borderline panic attack mode, started crying about how much I didn't want anyone getting hurt, and Darren made me pull over to compose myself. I was still crying when I saw a police officer throw up. The entire palm tree was up in flames, and there was screaming all around us, and bullets that were in the car were going off because of the heat of the fire. It sounds sick, but I stayed partly because I wanted to see the EMS pull someone out of the car that was still alive. I just didn't want anyone to die.

This morning, I found out that the car I had seen up in flames was officer Jermaine Gibson, who had initiated trying to pull the car over, when he realized that the driver was a parolee at large. He was killed on impact. For doing his job, making the ultimate sacrifice, and trying to save the other people on the road from suffering the same fate that he himself ultimately suffered. He was a former Marine, 29 years old, and a rookie with only 18 months on the force. He was just gived an award for being an advocate against drunk driving. Ironic? Coincidence? The other two people in the Mustang wrapped themselves around a tree, causing the car to erupt into flames also. They lived. The people who started all of this; who caused all of this pain and damage. The ones who should be where that officer is now. That's callous I know. But those guys put the lives of everyone around them in danger simply because he didn't want to go back to prison. Their stupid decisions caused an accident in which a (no-doubt) wonderful man was killed before his time.

It's going to take a while for me to get over this. Everytime I shut my eyes, I see the car in flames. I see his picture. I can picture a tattoo of an eagle, globe, and anchor. I've seen fiery crashes in movies; seeing it in person is a completely different experience. It is more upsetting than anything else in my recent memory. Pray for him. For his family. For the Cathedral City police department, who lost a fellow brother last night. And pray that justice is served to its fullest extent.

 Check it, if you want to.