Ride report to remember!! Tried my best to save a life, hope he made it

[Pokey151 244]

So it took me a few days to clear my head to write about this...

So in preparation for my TAT trip with some friends (who really need seat time) we have been riding trails every weekend to help them with their endurance and skills.  Last Saturday we decided to ride from Lake Henshaw to Idyllwild.  We left at 7:30 taking it easy with a couple stops for water and the guys needed a couple stops.  We went through Cahuilla and up Rouse Ridge, then plan on heading up Bee Canyon.  So a good way in Rouse Ridge I thought I saw something in the corner of my eye.  I was leading and my 2 friends followed.  By the time I convinced myself what I saw we all passed and no one else saw this.  I say on our Sena's "OMG is that a dead guy?, I Think we just passed a dead guy!"  The others didn't see anything so I spun around and there was a guy on the side sort of in bushes with no shirt on, no shows (there were off but next to him) and an empty water bottle, his head was in a hole and his body posture looked as if he was dumped off?  I grab my phone and try to get my location and call 911.  He was un responsive and did not appear to be breathing but we didn't want to tough anything incase it was a crime scene.

So I call 911 and tell them what we found just and my buddy said "He's breathing!!! just barely though"  911 wants us to look for trauma and honestly I was expecting to see a bullet hole but was please to not see any signs of trauma.  I could not get my location on my phone and asked if they could triangulate my location.  They could not get an exact location but knew I was on Rouse Ridge.

During this 911 wanted us to lay him on his back and the shape he was in laying down was the shape he held laying on his back, like rigor mortis!  He then relaxed limp.  His nostrils and mouth were packed full of dirt.  My friend moved his head to the side and moved his jaw around to release dirt and clear a airway.  We checked his pulse and it was 40 bpm and very weak, his breathing was so shallow it was hard to count his breaths.

We froze our camel backs to have ice water, so we poured ice water on his chest and head.  The guy gasped for a second and went out again totally unresponsive.  We took a spare jersey off and covered his chest and pour more ice water on the jersey to try and cool him down.  I grabbed a frozen Gatorade bottle and placed on the back of his neck also. 

All this while 911 was trying to locate us, the they asked if one of us could ride down to Hemet and find the Ambulance.  I passed my phone to my friend and hopped on my little 250, hit the odometer rest and rode and fast as I could get the little bike to go.  I made it to the road in 8 miles, from my gopro it took just under 10 min to get there.  I said it 8 miles up to the Ambulance.  So I took off waiting at the splits to make sure he could follow me.  After a mile I saw a chopper above me, so I knew I didn't have to wait.  Back in fast mode I rode towards the guys and you could see when the chopper spotted the group and took off but no place to land, they got low enough to toss water out but the guy was unresponsive still.  So I made it back up and the guy never opened his eyes but grabed a handful of dirt and put it in his mouth and tried chewing on it.  Then passed out again?  

Finally the ambulance showed up, checked his eyes for dilation but nothing.  They loaded him up and started back down to hemet.  We picked out our stuff and headed down for some shade also.

Riding with my buddies it took 40 min to go 8 miles!  a few of those were 10" of silt.  When I was going though it at speed I had no Idea it was that soft!!  Crazy.

 

Anyways at the bottom of the mountain Life Flight was waiting to transfer the guy.

 

My friend snapped a pic of him when I was dialing 911.  If you look close you can see a hole his head was in

 

 

The next day there was an article my friends wife found

 

http://www.pe.com/articles/level-806741-early-major.html

 

He had no wallet on him and he never really work up.  I hope he survived but I really have my doubts.  I am not sure if he was high and wondered out in the middle of the night?  or did he get mugged/robbed and left for dead?  Off no wallet and that far away from anything??

 

So my friends said glad I saw him because they didn't and I saved his life.  I hope I did and he survived!!  BTW he was early 20's my guess.

 

Very trippy day.  We stopped in Hemet at Taco Bell to cool off and both the my friends were just wiped out from the sun and we took the freeway home.

 

So there is my write up, sorry if its rambling but tons of info going on in my head

[Bp619 104]

Wow thats crazy was just there 2 weeks ago and yeah good people at right place and right time hopefully you guys saved him. And yeah that silt on rouse is pretty bad right now surprised the ambulance made it even if its a 4x4

[Pokey151 244]

I'm shocked I didn't notice it going down or up.  Need to remember 4th and 5th gear tapped in silt

[Wierdrider 187]

Crazy experience. Is this North of Anza? 

[Dan Diego 40]

Wow, what a story. Glad you happened upon him. Hope he's OK.

Sure would like to hear the rest of the story.

[ADV Bum 205]

Great Job!  Excellent response with first aid and getting help. Sounds like you guys might of saved his life. 

 

[StealthDingo 5]

Wow, well done Pokey. No way he would've made it without you guys. Karma coming your way for sure. Good on ya

[ThumperBob 21]

Wow. Great job guys. You did your best. Let's hope he makes it.

[Oracle 195]

20 minutes ago, Wierdrider said:

Crazy experience. Is this North of Anza? 

Yes.

Good job Pokey! Way to step up and do what needed to be done.

[Bp619 104]

26 minutes ago, Wierdrider said:

Crazy experience. Is this North of Anza? 

Yeah north of anza closer to hemet

[Mikey777 44]

Drugz....

[KTMrad 508]

What a story !  Great job helping this guy out...hope he made it.

[arjayes 1]

Awesome response in a tough situation, Pokey. I would have to know what happened to the guy. Maybe you can contact the EMTs and find out what hospital he ended up in? You deserve to know. I hope there's a happy ending.

[Pokey151 244]

Thanks everyone.  I'm researching to find an answer

[hodnettjj 0]

Nice work on the response.

You did what you could and got him to a higher level of care. 

Situation  handled. 

I have worked many people. I have had very few follow-ups to know how they turned out. 

You guys did the best you could in a bad situation. Based on your report his prognosis is pretty grim. You guys did effect the rescue in a positive way and you should be proud of that. 

[Honda90 0]

Wow, man. That is crazy. Great job!

[350thumper 336]

When i was that age I got drunk and wondered off at the river .

passed out under a bush like that and landed on a red ant pile.didnt notice till I came too. Ouch needless to say 3rd degree burns all over my body, ant bites, chapped lips no water  with a hang over.

that might be one of the reasons I stopped drinking .

great rescue thanks for helping him .

[Dress4Less 162]

Hats off to you and your friends Pokey....keep us all posted...

[Honda90 0]

Thinking more about this. That bit about the difference speed makes in negotiating sand - my son is always telling me it will be easier if I stop holding back. But I am always thinking, "How fast do I want to be going when I finally go down."

Also, would a SPOT device have worked better/faster than a cellphone in summoning help? And would you be charged for the evac/rescue if you used your own SPOT to rescue a stranger?

[Dan Diego 40]

7 minutes ago, Honda90 said:

Also, would a SPOT device have worked better/faster than a cellphone in summoning help? And would you be charged for the evac/rescue if you used your own SPOT to rescue a stranger?

The SPOT can be used for anyone in need of immediate assistance and you would've been right to have used one. 

[Bp619 104]

Spot would have worked for navigation better but I have heard of it being more complicated just cause they get other agencies involved so on this forest road would have got rangers involved too so might take a while to get one of them they don't just send ambulance automatically . I'm surprised the authorities didn't send one of the 4x4 fire trucks with paramedics up 1st the trail ends at highway 74 where the fire post is and I always see multiple trucks there with staff would have been fast response time 

[Mikey777 44]

Most 4x4 brush rigs do not have paramedic supplies. They are purpose built apparatus with very limited space, mostly taken up by crew gear and specialized wildland fire fighting equipment.

Also, dualsport riders should know that USFS fire engines have absolutely zero paramedic supplies, only a basic crew first aid kit. Medical response is not within their response level. They can only secure scenes and wait for help, including for their own.  They are lucky if they even have an EMT on the crew, which is rare.

[eddie 0]

We had a fatality on a street ride about 3 miles east of the  CALFire Rincon station on the 76.  We waited 30 minutes for help.  

 

16 hours ago, Bp619 said:

Spot would have worked for navigation better but I have heard of it being more complicated just cause they get other agencies involved so on this forest road would have got rangers involved too so might take a while to get one of them they don't just send ambulance automatically . I'm surprised the authorities didn't send one of the 4x4 fire trucks with paramedics up 1st the trail ends at highway 74 where the fire post is and I always see multiple trucks there with staff would have been fast response time 

 

[Dan Diego 40]

Just now, eddie said:

We had a fatality on a street ride about 3 miles east of the  CALFire Rincon station on the 76.  We waited 30 minutes for help.  

 

 

Eddie: Using the SPOT emergency function? It took 30 minutes for EMS to arrive?

[Honda90 0]

34 minutes ago, Dan Diego said:

Eddie: Using the SPOT emergency function? It took 30 minutes for EMS to arrive?

This is something I have wondered about. If I have cell coverage, is dialing 911 a better/faster option than SPOT SOS?