By Donna Westfall – November 1, 2016 –
A 3-car accident at the 9th Street Liquor store on the corner of 9th and J streets in Crescent City was called in to 911 emergency around 5:25 pm. Shortly after the call all emergency vehicles arrived on the scene along with tow trucks.
One of the cars, a Buick, had disabled plates. The driver was OK, but the Jaws of Life had to be used to cut open the top of the car to extricate the others which were taken out by stretcher.
Within an hour, streets were cleared of all emergency and damaged vehicles and the road was opened to the public by 6:25 pm thanks to the efforts of all the responders; police, fire department and ambulance.
Every single day and night at the intersection of 9th and J Streets are multiple near-miss catastrophes involving speeding motorized vehicles, speeding motorcycles, cars, bicycles, and pedestrians at that very dangerous intersection. Sadly, far too many of these situations seemingly occur due to drivers and pedestrians being under the influence of drugs and alcohol while pulling in and out of Discount Liquors — an extra law enforcement presence would be much appreciated at this busy intersection and chaotic liquor store ingress and egress. Not only are the inebriated vehicle drivers a concern, but bicyclists and pedestrians who are under the influence also share a great deal of the responsibility. A liquor store should never have been approved to be located in this mixed-use neighborhood with so many homes and apartments, and because this particular liquor store attracts an overwhelmingly irresponsible clientele. After many complaints, store employees disallowed loitering and panhandling — now it is getting bad again.
I couldn’t believe how people refused to turn around or go around the accident. One young idiot in a white lifted toyota pickup with a “monster drink” sticker on the back window proceeded to drive right into the accident site. He had lots of opportunity to turn into the parking lot across from the Remax location but instead decided to block the roadway of arriving fire crew. (He finally forced his way thought he accident scene after realizing he’s blocking incoming emergency responders)
Another young guy in a blue impala decided he was going to do the same thing. I put a stop to that but not before getting some sort of evil death stare. Maybe he was stoned or something and couldn’t understand what all those flashy lights were for. I feel sad for the gal that was his passenger and the kid in the back seat, this is who they probably have to put up with. I just hope he learned what all those pretty red and blue lights are for.
I guess I need to start carrying my knife again on my person just in case I need to defend myself. It’s obvious people think I’m some jerk because I’m blocking traffic from moving towards an accident scene while watching me let emergency crew in.
Stupid must come from the water and meth supplies.