So Wednesday night I am riding my bike up 10th Ave. home from work, when suddenly…
WHAM!
The next thing I know my bike is careening toward the ground. I extend my left hand and lock my elbow, hit the ground and roll.
“Are you okay?” asks a motorist stopped at the W. 34th St. red light.
“No,” I moan, dazed.
I look up. Towering above me is one of those luxury buses.
The bus had apparently been making a right turn from 10th Ave. onto W. 34th St. when it clipped my back rear tire as I headed north on 10th Ave., basically in the crosswalk. A witness later says I had “went flying.”
This bus is not like the city MTA buses; in this the cab is way off the ground. There are three men in traditional Hasidic garb in the cab, looking down at me but making no effort to get out.
I stagger to my feet. Passersby are surrounding me, helping me. They tell me to sit back down. This seems like a good idea as I’m still kinda stunned and trying to figure out where it hurts. My left hand is killing me — thankfully I was wearing gloves so the skin isn’t broken — and my right knee is scraped. Later my right hip starts to hurt and I discover an abrasion there, too.
I stand back up. Where do you hurt, people ask. “My hand,” I say.
“No no no,” one guy says. “I was a bike messenger for years. Your head hurts, your back hurts, your whole body hurts.” Ha.
Finally one of the Hassidic men comes out of the bus. He says he’s not the driver but wants to know if I’m okay. “Yeah, I’m okay,” I say, holding my aching left hand in my armpit. “The driver’s not even going to come out and apologize?” I ask, annoyed.
The man says the driver is “afraid.” I guess there’s like eight or 10 people there, but gosh, no one’s even angry.
People tell me I should stop saying I’m alright. That the man asking about my welfare had a tape-recorder. And that they had been laughing at me in the cab of the bus. I’m more concerned about my hand, though.
Eventually the driver does come out. He’s not especially apologetic but says he didn’t see me.
Suddenly there’s an ambulance. It had got there quick. I hadn’t asked for one, but here it is. Do I want to get it checked out in the ambulance? Okay, sure. They give me a cold pack, which feels good. I seem to be able to move my hand okay but it is pretty sore. The EMTs, who are really nice, recommend getting it X-rayed anyway. There’s a lot of little bones in the hand, and if I don’t get it checked out now it’ll be tougher to prove later.
Most people take off when the EMTs suggest they should stick around to be witnesses for the police — the guy who recommended I exaggerate my injuries hoofs it out of there on the double — but two people stay. And stay. I’m in the heated ambulance, but they’re out in the cold.
As we wait, one of the Hasidic men snaps photos of my bike, which appears undamaged. They also ask if they need to wait for the cops. Yeah, the firefighters tell ’em.
Finally after about 20 minutes the police do arrive; they say they were late because they were dealing wiht a sex assault. One of the two witnesses is a nurse at NYU medical center who’s going to be late to work because she waited, but I guess she was so outraged by the way the bus trio were acting she elected to stay.
I am not really interested in bashing a whole group of people, but I’ll just tell the story as it happened. The EMTs are basically outraged about how callous the Hasidics are behaving and one says he encountered this before: basically no empathy for an accident victim one Hasidic had hit. I have to say I’ve encountered that perception of Hasidics by residents of Borough Park: the idea they don’t really care v. much about people outside their tribe. (A v. different attitude from my liberal Jewish friends, who are totally interested in social justice and the global community).
Personally I can’t imagine not getting out of vehicle to help or check on someone I had hit.
Anyway, I really don’t think it’s worth getting my hand checked out, as I had really hit the “meat” of my palm square against the ground. It’s going to bruise badly, I figure, but I don’t think anything is broken. However everyone — the EMTs, the kind nurse, the police — suggest the wiser idea would be to get it X-rayed just in case. So we traipse off to Bellevue. One of the authority figures — I won’t say who — strongly suggests a lawsuit and gives me some “unofficial” tips on what to tell the doctor. I end up waiting in the emergency room until midnight.
As I wait I try to ponder why the bus guys could have been laughing at me. (I didn’t see this, but that’s what people told me). I can’t imagine anyone being that inhuman, right? I eventually decide that when they saw me sit back down on the ground they thought I was trying to stage an accident, and were laughing cynically. Actually I was just dazed, doing what people told me to do and worried I had broken something.
Eventually the doctor tells me it’ll still be a long time until a radiologist can look at my X-rays. I decide to leave and get up early to call the docs at 6 a.m. so I can catch them before they leave.
It turns out I am right. Bad swelling and edema, I’m told. Today my palm isn’t hurting as much, but is still swollen and has just started turning a lovely shade of purple.
Oh. My.
I am speechless at these people … what the hell??!?
Thank God you’re OK.
Sue the bastards.
I think I should just be able to file an insurance claim, no? I haven’t gotten the police report yet, but I think it will make it v. clear the accident was entirely the bus’s fault. I have two witnesses — strangers — saying so. So there is not a lot for them to dispute.
Wow, just wow. I am amazed at how people can be so mean. I’m glad you’ll be OK.
Hola from Cabo Verde!!!
Totally awesome and totally stunning and totally heartbreaking all at once! We took about 600 pictures between us, so I hope that at least 50 of them will turn out OK.
We are going to climb the volcano on Fogo tomorrow, let’s hope there’s no eruption, the sucker is active.
So far we’ve visited Sao Vicente, Santo Antao, and of course Sal. No time to go to Boa Vista and Santiago, but we are definitely coming back again.
🙂
Ciao!
PS. if you want a postcard, email me your address!
Misty and Mercedeh
Hey- Glad you didn’t get more seriously injured! I can’t imagine not feeling bad about hitting a guy on a bike or getting out to check whether he’s ok. Seems like the only decent thing to do.
So sorry to hear about this accident! Your picture tells a whole other half to the story, that’s for sure. Maybe you should become a photojournalist.
Hope you’re feeling better soon.
Cris
I’m sorry to hear you got clipped, but I’m happy to hear you’re mostly ok.
Sorry to hear you had an accident. The USA
I’m glad it wasn’t worse. Wish you’d called, but… So, what’s the follow up story?
Liz just got a $15K settlement for her accident, but she did have stiches. Their insurance should at least cover your medical bills.
Is the bike okay? How did you get it home?
To the Hasidim all gentiles are supernal refuse. Your life to them is less than that of an amoeba. Believe it. These are the people who advise George Bush.
Glad you are okay. Typical Judaic behavior, though. The Talmud teaches all gentiles are cattle (goyim) and less than human. This is why they were laughing at you. Why do they care if a dumb ox or ass gets a few scraped? You can spin it all you want, but their behavior is typical of all Judaics.
Of course, by typing up this entry you just proved that your hand is ok and you threw out any chances of a nice lawsuit. The hasidim make jewish people look bad.
Ouch! I’m so sorry to hear about this, and that I didn’t read it in time to ask how you were doing yesterday! I’m glad you were out there to run 🙂
I shudder at the “typical Judaic behaviour” comment above …
Yeah, I agree ariana, but wasn’t going to bother to respond.
“I am not really interested in bashing a whole group of people, but…”?
But?
And you weren’t going to bother responding to an anti-semitic comment on your blog you basically invited?
I’m dissapointed.
Let me tell you something. If I accidentally hit someone on my bike I’d probably be shocked too. I might even be dazed enough not to come running out right away, especially when I can see there is already a crowd of people helping you, of whom several are calling out legal advice to encourage you to sue (which would only reinforce what everyone always says – never apologize or admit guilt at the scene of an accident).
What’s really sad is that the EMT is a perfect example of what so many people are up against in this world: prejudice and stereotypes. Maybe these three guys were jerks, but that is hardly a reflection of an entire group.
“I have to say I’ve encountered that perception of Hasidics by residents of Borough Park: the idea they don’t really care v. much about people outside their tribe. (A v. different attitude from my liberal Jewish friends, who are totally interested in social justice and the global community).”
That’s very big of you. Your Jewish friends must be so proud.
And you’re going to file a claim? For a bruise? Nice.
Eh, in all this accident — totally their fault — ate up five hours of my life. And yeah it really hurt. At the time and the next day. Plus at the moment I don’t have health insurance (just started a new job), and someone has to pay the ER bills.
I really can’t imagine being so “dazed” from hitting someone in a bus I wouldn’t come out and see how they were doing for a good five to 10 minutes. I was the one who was freakin’ hit, and I wasn’t that dazed.
Maybe that you can is a reflection of your character. You don’t have to admit fault or apologize to see how someone is doing — and when you do ask “are you okay?” it’s not so effective if you’re tape-recording someone.
But frankly, I think if they had apologized and acted like decent human beings I think this whole thing would have been resolved much more easily, perhaps with a handshake at the scene.
What’s really sad is that the EMT is a perfect example of what so many people are up against in this world: prejudice and stereotypes. Maybe these three guys were jerks, but that is hardly a reflection of an entire group.
I don’t think that this one incident reflects on an entire group. But lots of little incidents can add up.
And look: group differences exist. Hasidim choose to live “a life apart,” deliberately separating themselves from everyone else. (That is a stereotype I hold of Hasidim. And it appears to be very true.) Is it a stretch to believe they lack empathy for non-Hasidim?
In truth, I don’t know if they lack empathy for outsiders or not. I do know that’s the perception in heavily Hasidic parts of Brooklyn, among people who live in Hasidic neighborhoods everyday.
But if you have any counterexamples, by all means, post away.
P.S. Okay, I will respond to Minera’s comment. There is a lot of weird stuff in the Bible, too. I don’t think many Jews or gentiles go for a literal reading of their holy books. I feel like I know enough Jewish people (and dated a great Jewish girl for 3 1/2 years) that I can say categorically this is not how most Jewish people behave.
“someone has to pay the ER bills.”
I think that’s perfectly justified. Filing a claim against someone isn’t (or shouldn’t be) about suing them for all they’re worth, but about taking responsibility for their actions. And it’s interesting that you point out how if they had acted with some basic kindness, you may well have forgiven them the legal fight — even if it is justified — altogether.
Glad you’re ok.
It’s nice that so many strangers were willing to stay around to help you.
As for the Hasidim-bashing comments in response, it’s the people driving the bus who were at fault, not everyone of their kind. As someone pointed out, there’s lots of nutty stuff in the Bible. Not everyone would act that way.
“But lots of little incidents can add up.”
That’s basically the excuse everyone uses for prejudice. That said, the people inside the bus were wrong – that’s clear.
So sorry to hear this, but so happy you’re okay!
That’s basically the excuse everyone uses for prejudice.
But group differences do exist, and I feel people should be free to talk about them as long as it is not done in a hateful way.
Like my friend the other day was talking about living in Japan. Apparently she’d see things like Japanese businessmen openly reading porn on the subway. Can’t you draw certain conclusions from that, like that the Japanese have different attitudes towards sex than we do? Or is that just another “prejudice.”
There is a big difference between seeming an entire subway of unrelated people reacting one way — and concluding that it must be because of a shared cultural attitude — and seeing three guys on a bus behave a certain way and extrapolating that it has to do with everyone of their ilk.
Which is not to say that you CAN’T talk about shared or prominent cultural attitudes and traditions. Not at all. But I didn’t like the idea of doing it based on one incident coupled with some people badmouthing based on rumors.
Again, if this was one isolated incident I don’t think anyone would draw any conclusions about it. And in fact I didn’t draw any conclusions about it in my post. I just relayed my experiences and let people draw their own conclusions.
Do you not think that the Hasidim have shared cultural attitudes that are very different than most Americans? They dress differently and live differently. They’re nearly as different as the Amish.
I’m really shocked and surprised that the people on the bus acted so ridiculous! I have lots of Hasidic patients, and they constantly bring us food, etc. One of the fathers even volunteers his time to teach the other parents CPR….and none of us are part of his tribe!
Your gown is on backwards 🙂 You have to be careful in that Bellevue ER!
So glad you’re OK Derek!