The Biden Accident: The Response I Can’t Shake

Article by Lou Angeli

VP claims driver in '72 fatal wreck was drunk, simply because that is what officials informed him.

WILMINGTON, DE (March 26, 2009) ? This narrative is in response to a CBS Report suggesting that a Pennsylvania man, Curtis Dunn, who was involved in the fatal accident involving Vice President Joe Biden?s deceased wife, Neilia, was not intoxicated. I was there in an official capability, and the details as I don't forget them are as such.

For these of you who are reading my perform for the 1st time, and aren't mindful of my background, I am a veteran firefighter and AEMT primarily based in Delaware. At the time of Neilia Biden?s accident, I was learning at the University of Delaware and serving as a 20-year-old probationary volunteer fireman.

I refer to the latest Vice President as Joe, not out of disrespect, but due to the fact in 1972, every person in the state referred to Mr. Biden simply as Joe.On the afternoon of December 19, 1972, I was returning house from classes at the University, when my fire scanner blurted out a dispatch for a "PI 10-ten," a individual injury auto accident, on Limestone Road. Even though firefighters and 1st-assist personnel weren?t permitted to respond to alarms in individual vehicles, first-in units indicated that the scenario was really significant, so I made the selection to drive immediately to the accident scene. The Scene

In 1972, the intersection of Limestone and Valley Road was quite remote, a rural section of New Castle County produced up of mushroom farms and a lone liquor store. However, as I arrived, the scene was unusually busy with dozens of onlookers and those who had stopped to render assistance.Law enforcement on the scene included a Delaware State Police officer, as effectively as a PA State Trooper, who had been ticketing a truck driver at the state line about 3/4 mile north of the scene. A first-assist crew and firemen from the volunteer station in Hockessin, Delaware had arrived, and the department?s fire policemen have been taking positions to direct site visitors. Scanner reports indicated that three other ambulances were on their way from Mill Creek, Newark and Pennsylvania.

A mangled car lay in a ditch, about 150 or so feet from the intersection, and as I moved closer, it became apparent that persons have been trapped in the wreckage. The Trooper had already checked the auto registration and radioed his supervisor that he believed the victims to be members of the Biden household. I hoped that he was mistaken.

The very first-aid crew was operating on Mrs. Biden while other individuals searched for the infant, Naomi. Beau and Hunter Biden had been bounced about on impact and were severely injured? like head injuries, lacerations and broken bones. I was horrified.A group of us huddled around an eyewitness, listening to her describe the accident. From her account Neilia Biden was stopped on Valley Road, preparing to cross Limestone Road. The lady recalled that the Biden auto started to cross the road, and was struck broadside by a truck driven by Curtis Dunn of nearby Avondale, PA.Limestone Road was a well-known trucker shortcut in the Piedmont foothills foremost into Pennsylvania. The intersection with Valley Road was very unsafe, found at the bottom of two steep hills. Truckers traveling in either path employed the momentum coming down a single hill, in order to climb the other. The speed limit on Limestone Road, at the intersection, was 35mph and enormous Minimize SPEED indicators were posted a half-mile in both directions. Whether Curtis Dunn was speeding is unknown, but he had applied his brakes, which was apparent from twin 150 ft. skid marks.Mr. Dunn's Problem

With the focus on the seriously injured Biden household, another firefighter and I attended to Mr. Dunn, who was seated in his truck. He was in shock, and had difficulty understanding me when I explained what had happened. He kept asking the same query more than and more than. "What am I undertaking right here?" I placed a cervical collar about his neck and checked important signs. A secondary survey revealed lacerations and contusions, but he was breathing, not bleeding badly and therefore was in no substantial danger.

In regards to intoxication, there was no way to determine if Mr. Dunn had been drinking, because neither of the police officers had breathalyzers aboard their cruisers. His injuries had been such that his demeanor was related to that of someone in a stupor, but these of you who serve in emergency medicine know that such behavior is typically presented by victims who are in shock, or possibly even diabetic.

The scene was chaos, but inside 10 minutes ambulances, and police escorts, started rushing the household members to Wilmington hospitals, about 16 miles away. Preserve in mind it was the early 70?s and there was no ALS or paramedic program. Those of us who have been firefighters had 40 hours of very first-aid instruction, and our job was to make specific that the victim was breathing, that extreme bleeding was controlled and that a patient's injuries have been stabilized as very best we could. Then we have been off and operating, rushing the victims to the hospital as speedily and safely as achievable.

Beau and Hunter were the final to be moved due to the fact they necessary specific focus. I recall Larry Mergenthaler and Don Lentes, each veteran volunteer firefighters working carefully on the boys. Beau and Hunter couldn't have had a greater group treating them. It really is stated that each and every firefighter chooses a mentor early in his/her career, and it was at that second that I chose mine.

I?ve learned that all of the records pertaining to this accident are lost. It doesn't surprise me. Back then our ambulance incident report was filled out on a 5x7 card and filed away in a box. The moment a month the data was transferred to a master list, which was latter placed in storage.

If Mr. Dunn was intoxicated, there was no way to determine that at the hospital, because alcohol blood tests were not mandatory in 1972. The hospital records are missing, as well as the police reports. To be sincere, these of us in fire-rescue here in Delaware assumed that Mr. Dunn had been drinking, based on comments produced by police officers at the scene. And in the Delaware fire service, rumors travel from station to station like wildfire.Right up until he remarried in 1977, whenever Joe Biden attended a public security occasion, parade or spoke in the course of a firehouse banquet, police officers and firefighters would strategy him and discuss the accident and the tragedy that his wife Neilia and daughter Naomi fell victim to a drunken driver. Picture how those discussions ought to have impacted the young Senator. Curiously, the Attorney General?s office in no way filed charges against Mr. Dunn, and so the official word is that he had not been drinking.Fast-ForwardThe next time I came in contact with Beau Biden was during his campaign for Delaware Lawyer Basic in 2006. Beau, a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, had just completed a debate with his opponent, Ferris Wharton. Beau, and the complete Biden clan, had been in the lobby of an elderly higher rise shaking hands with well wishers and supporters. My wife approached Beau and talked about that I had been a single of the firefighters who responded to his aid back in 1972.He grabbed me by the sleeve and we walked to a quiet location. He known as his brother Hunter to join us. There had been number of words plenty of tears but each guys thanked me again and yet again. I mentioned that I knew their mother personally, as I served as a media volunteer on Joe's 1st senatorial campaign. The last time I saw Neilia alive was a week before the election, when I drove her to a meet and greet at the Stone Balloon in Newark. A common band referred to as The Boys were performing and the spot was packed. But when Neilia walked onto the dance floor, she became the center of consideration. She often was.

As 1st responders, our participation in emergency incidents ends when we back the ambulance into the station. We're trained to forget particulars. But the Biden accident and my perform at ground zero are two incidents that I?ll take to my grave.

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About the Author

Lou Angeli, the writer, provides the reader a riveting peek at life deep inside the trenches of emergency response. He has been referred to as the firefighters' storyteller, and his written perform contains breaking news, features, fiction - but most importantly content articles dealing with firefighter security.

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