Redditors, What was your "I didn't sign up for this" moment?

Believe it or not, I was a patrol officer in a small city many, many years ago. On the day when these events transpired, I had worked there for over five years, was now on lists for promotion, and (better yet) could soon use my seniority to make a longshot bid for a spot on the idyllic day shift...ah day shift, a shift where the "police work" consists of escorting funerals and observing bank deposits...maybe cover a fender bender or a deal with a teenage shoplifter. I could thrive and be lazy on that shift for the near 25 remaining years until full retirement. My point is that I knew a thing or two about policing in this community.

So one day, I was training a new officer while on the afternoon shift (4pm-12pm), we (just me and the rookie) received a call of an accident on a freeway overpass. So we rush on over there and get reasonably close to the scene using the pull-out lane. I call out there on the radio and ask for a tow truck since I can see a small Chevy Luv (a pick-up truck from back in the day) resting on its passenger side, facing me.

So I "gallantly" lead my young partner through the short confusion of cars vehicle until we came up to the accident scene proper. People ran up to me and were saying some people were terribly hurt while I was looking around for my self.

I saw two bodies near the truck, one near the front (and my position at that moment) and one sticking out legs first from underneath the pick-up's right rear tire (not good!). So I pull the largish walkie-talkie from my back pocket and manage to inform dispatch through the ever-present static (this was the pre-digital age) that we were going to need ambulances and more traffic control. I remember it being loud around me and I never did hear dispatch acknowledging my requests.

As we approached I could see that the victim nearest me was laying flat on his back but his skull was so crushed inside that it was basically like a water balloon. Some kind of snore sound came bubbling out his deformed, semi-solid face which I knew as "death snores" but some called them "death rattles". It was quite upsetting to see, for me at least but I had to move on. So I tell the rookie to standby this first guy and guide the ambulance crew to him when they showed up.

So I approach the second victim under the truck tire, he too is prone on his back except for the back end of the truck and wheel were covering his head and upper neck. Bystanders were there looking on here. So I made a split decision to try and get the wheel off the man. Enlisting many bystanders we managed to lift that small rear end of the truck just enough so someone could pull him out by his legs which they did. As I turned my attention directly to the second victim, I could see something wasn't right and very wrong...this guy's head had been smushed almost flat! And as I gazed upon that horrific sight....IT LET OUT A COUPLE DEATH SNORES!!! That was it...I lost control of my voice and was pointing to that guy's face and saying loudly "That Fucker is Dead, oh god, that Fucker is Dead" repeatedly I'm sorry to say. That was a big "I didn't sign up for this" for me anyway.

After seeing that last man, things got fuzzy and confused. I remember my Sgt. soon arrived, rightly pulled me back to my car, and told me to take it to the station. People were coming up to us in the meanwhile and saying/shouting there was third victim along the outer wall...it was chaos to me. The Sgt. told me to go to the station so I must have gathered my rookie and we must of driven to the station (I don't remember doing this). I remember filling out an officer's report, and a local accident report. I don't remember saying a word to the rookie.

Within the hour, the Sgt. and the Captain pull into the station simultaneously and told us to meet them in an interview room. I thought I was going to get blasted for my conduct. The Sgt. made both of us look him in the eye said "Things got hairy out there on the overpass, try to forget the things you see" The Captain didn't say a word and didn't act pissed off so that was it...the topic never came up again (which was significant in itself since normally we would have discussed it employing gallows humor)

Hell I didn't really talk about until a couple years ago when I was doing something entirely different. With all honesty, when I get physically and mentally weak (fever, stress over other issues, coming off sedation for example)...I see those two deformed mushed up faces along with the three others who died in front of me. I don't see them in my dreams, but their images push into my normal daily consciousness. I personally wish I could forget the whole thing forever.

About six months after this event, I resigned (securing a small pension beginning at 55yrs) and started grad school. I've done well for myself and am content. But in the last decade, I had difficulties left over from a mild form of cancer which precipitated an emotional crisis. Once I got weak from this potpourri of stressors, I started seeing those images again...they just forced their way in my mind's eye.

TL;DR...saw really nasty shit at work, freaked out, quit job soon after.

/r/AskReddit Thread