Why I won’t be writing about the overpass incident
I don’t want to think about what it might be like to be hit by a cement block travelling at 55 miles per hour.
I don’t want to think about what it might be like to watch the passenger in your car get hit by a cement block traveling at 55 miles per hour.
I don’t want to think about the splattering glass, blood and disfigurement which probably resulted from being hit by a cement block traveling at 55 miles per hour.
I don’t want to think about the driver that will be replaying this episode in his head, frame by frame, for the rest of his life.
I don’t want to think about the skid marks on I-74 just past the Broadway overpass which I saw that may or may not have resulted from this incident.
I don’t want to think about the anger I feel against whoever did this.
I don’t want to think about what would’ve happened to my wife had the kid who tossed a log off the overpass at I-474 and Closen Road that bounced off my front bumper on the passenger side had better timing.
I don’t want to think about another child growing up without a mother.
I don’t want to think about things getting worse when I thought they couldn’t.
That’s why I won’t be writing about the overpass incident.
July 15th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
This is a sickening incident. I know two people that always talked to her when they went to Kroger’s on Wisconsin Ave. There is a memorial box set up at Kroger’s to help out. No amount of money will ever make up for this loss. I hope the people that did this will remember this in their heads for the remainder of their lives.
July 15th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Thanks for the post. It cooled me down. Doubtful that these kids will ever come to terms with this incident. Look how they were brought up, out running the streets at 1 and 2 in the morning…..We will read about these youths again in the years ahead as they will harm someone else for sure.
July 15th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Well said, PI.
I think the thing that bothers me the most is the total…randomness and senseless…of it.
For some reason…maybe those ARE the reasons…this has affected me differently (and more) than if I’d heard someone was killed during a robbery. I mean…I don’t care if they ARE 13-14 year old kids. Unless they’re retarded, they HAD to know better. I can’t think of a punishment severe enough for ‘em.
I dunno. I was never scared when we lived in town. Loved it there, in fact. But every time I hear something like this, I’m glad we moved.
July 15th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Oops. That would be “senselessNESS”.
July 15th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
[...] while always having good content, has a couple of exceptionally good posts lately. One is a cathartic poem about the killing of a 26-year-old woman by a couple of delinquents dropping a landscaping stone [...]
July 16th, 2007 at 5:03 am
I’m with you, Pammy. It’s sad to hear someone was shot and killed, but I never think about it too deeply. This and the motorcyclist who was killed last week in East Peoria because a 16 year old girl got distracted and pulled a bonehead traffic move. I remember being 16 and I remember running a stop sign by accident and pulling a few bonehead moves myself. Can you imagine living with that the rest of your life? When it said the guy wasn’t wearing a helmet, but it wouldn’t have helped anyway… yikes…
I was out running some errands and thought I’d drive under the Broadway overpass… it’d kinda been bugging me, this whole random senseless thing, but actually seeing the police command center parked up there on the ramp with all the cars and people milling around really drove it home.
I’m never scared of being mugged or murdered, but I don’t put myself in the situation where it may happen either, not that it couldn’t… but this… Some little thug is going to throw bricks off an overpass at cars below!
Random senselessness.
July 16th, 2007 at 6:49 am
In a nut-shell, it hits too close to home.
July 16th, 2007 at 7:08 am
The parent has to bear some responsibility for this.
July 16th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
I share your sentiments PI. This is awful.
July 16th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
[...] blogs that I usually read like I do almost every day. I got to Peoria Illinoisan’s (http://peoriaillinoisan.blogpeoria.com/2007/07/15/why-i-wont-be-writing-about-the-overpass-incident/) and just about balled. One of the comments mentioned the motorcycle accident on Meadows Ave [...]