That's what they called him, the guy who was found without his feet. He was 60, had dementia, and its almost like I wish it was a senseless murder, instead of what it was. A damn hit and run on Vollmer Road, where the feet were found. He was hit by an SUV going 50 MPH per the Medical Examiner, making it hard to define the initial severing of the flesh and bone. The SUV driver somehow grabbed Walking Jim's upper body and took him to the dead end, which is seen in the top photo. Even more sad, people driving and/or walking down Lavergne Avenue to work or lunch saw him and thought he was a Hallowe'en prank, an overturned scarecrow. He had been there three days. Darci (oh, are we still using code names?) commented that it was on the news as a car killer (my phrase). The ID was made because Jim walked down Vollmer Road most of each day, talking to himself and smoking cigarettes. I am also posting photos of others, as I did yesterday. The woman on the bench is an alcoholic, and the grey-haired woman will punch at you if she is awake and feels like lashing out at random. There's a guy in Las Vegas and one in the doorway of Toys R Us on a Sunday morning. Complete unknowns who walk the streets every day and night. At least people knew Walking Jim enough to have police looking for him, just not in the right suburb, so it took a few days...Wayne
7 comments:
Alas.
I hope they catch the bastard. How do they know it was an SUV? Have they already nabbed a perp?
As a letter carrier, you'd think I'd meet up with more strange folk than I have. But by and large the streets have been empty of such in my experience. Most disturbing person I ever saw was a woman whose face seemed to be rotting. I quickly averted my eyes. I have no idea what the deal was with that--I was filling in for another carrier on a route I'd never doen, and never did again.
I do, however, have plenty of stories of violence, gunplay, and flying bullets, and getting caught in crossfire.
I wonder about the SUV driver. How can they be living with themselves?
For some reason, we don't have this kind of homelessness in New Zealand.
I don't know if that's due to a nice reason, like the fact that we give our poor and disturbed a little dignity and enough money to live. Or for all I know, it could be something darker, like those on the borderline are simply locked away.
Of course, people didn't sleep in doorways so much in the US my youth, either -- not until Reagan turfed out the mental hospitals and did one man's best to destroy the middle class, anyway.
I've been out of touch with the world for a few days, (weeks, actually) and hadn't heard about this.
So tell me, was the SUV driver a bleached-blonde woman talking on a cell phone? We suffer a plague of them in their Lexus and Mercedes SUVs. I was nearly run over by one the other day.
Disturbing photos.
The horror of real life and of humanity.
Sweet Jebus, that's some serious suckage.
A few years ago there used to be this homeless guy who wandered the alley behind my apartment looking for aluminum cans. He never spoke to anyone on the block but we all knew him and we'd all bag our cans for him. Then one day a couple of twenty-something assholes knifed him. He died.
Thought of you today while hanging out with Beth Massie during the 3rd Richmond Zombie Walk.
The world is a crule place:(
HUGZ maaikie
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