Introduction: In April Of 1998 In Our Nation's ...

Introduction: In April of 1998 in our nation’s capital Military Police Maj. Odie Butler said he was northbound on I395 about 10 minutes before 6 a.m. when he came upon an accident near Alexandria. Amid the debris of a single-truck accident, a person was on the highway, having been thrown from the vehicle. Butler said he did not take time to think. He stopped his car and got out to help the victim. "At first, I couldn’t tell if [the victim] was male or female, there was so much blood ... [then] I saw she had on female tennis shoes. At the same time, traffic was rolling through," Butler said. Not having a cell phone, Butler said he was hoping someone would call 911. There was not much else he could do for the victim. "She was on her back with her left leg tucked under and her right leg near the guardrail," Butler said. "She was spitting up blood and I knew she needed medical assistance. There was nothing I could do except stand there. She had a big laceration on her right hand, her whole face was covered in blood, and she was having trouble breathing. Meanwhile motorists were passing by the accident “trying to weave through the debris and get on out of there," Butler said. Some made angry gestures. Butler said one driver told him to "get the ‘stuff’ off the side of the road." "Some folks don’t want to get involved ... [or] they’re in a hurry ...," Butler said. After about five minutes, Butler said, another motorist, an Air Force civilian employee, Larry Meade, stopped and used his cell phone to call for assistance. About 10 minutes later, the woman was flown by helicopter to a Washington-area hospital. Meade said that he was prepared for the carnage associated with the crash, but the anger of the other motorists shocked him. Meade said, "People put appointments and memos above someone’s life." According to Butler, what he did on the interstate was "the Christian thing to do."