Right Wing Nut House

This is just too weird:

INGLESIDE, N.C. (AP) -Larry Green stepped out of the darkness so suddenly that the car that hit him didn’t even leave skid marks. The impact sent his shoes, socks and the unopened beer in his hand flying.

Mr. Green came to rest on U.S. 401 alongside a trash-strewn ditch, where he was examined by paramedics and declared dead. Over the next 2 1/2 hours, the bloody body with a gaping head wound was zipped into a black vinyl bag, taken to the morgue and put into a stainless-steel refrigerated drawer.

There was just one problem: Mr. Green was alive.

Two weeks after that shocking discovery, the 29-year-old Mr. Green, who is paralyzed, clings to life in a hospital intensive care unit.

The poor unfortunate Mr. Green had the misfortune of being examined at the scene of the accident by a bunch of nitwits:

Randy Kearney, an off-duty paramedic, was on the scene at 8:54 p.m. and found no pulse or sign of breathing. Blood had formed a footwide corona around Mr. Green’s skull.

When county paramedics Paul Kilmer and Katherine Lamell arrived moments later, Mr. Kearney told them Mr. Green was dead, but asked Mr. Kilmer to double-check. Mr. Kilmer replied that his determination was “good enough for me,” according to Mr. Kearney and two firefighters.

Mr. Kilmer told officials he could not remember saying that, but doesn’t deny it.

Paramedic Pamela Hayes arrived at 9 p.m., and the medical examiner, Dr. J.B. Perdue, examined the body at the scene about half an hour later.

Paramedics put Mr. Green in a body bag and drove him to the morgue in nearby Louisburg. There, Dr. Perdue examined the body a second time. He took a blood sample, lifted Mr. Green’s eyelids and sniffed around the man’s mouth for alcohol.

Un. Be.Lievable.

Mr. Green probably would have remained in the stainless-steel container had state Trooper Tyrone Hunt not arrived around 11:20 p.m. and asked Dr. Perdue to help him determine the direction from which Mr. Green had been struck.

This time, Dr. Perdue observed slight movement. He could not find a pulse in Mr. Green’s neck, thigh or wrist, even with a stethoscope. Dr. Perdue summoned paramedics and an electrocardiogram, which was able to pick up a faint heart rhythm.

A hundred years ago, people used to put bells on the graves of their loved ones just in case the “deceased” woke up in a buried coffin. But you’d think in a modern industrialized society that a trained physician not to mention an experienced coroner would take the time to ascertain whether or not the body that they’re placing in refrigerated cabinet was, you know…dead?

The family has retained an attorney. (Ya think?)

UPDATE: FROM THE “DID I MISS SOMETHING” DEPARTMENT

Much to my chagrin, I find that this story is almost a month old!

I found it on Comcast via a video report by the AP. There was no date on the video so I don’t know when it was made. And as closely as I watch what’s happening on the web, I can’t believe that there wasn’t an explosion of posts about this when it was first reported.

Kind of makes me wonder what else I’ve missed. Did you hear that Dan Rather is retiring?