Man shot in stomach makes small talk during 911 call
Thursday, May 10, 2007
The Crater Although crippled by a fatal shotgun wound at the time he placed the emergency call, Jacob Swanson wasn't only calm but personable, according to Melanie Vanier, the 911 operator who responded to the maimed man.
"The first thing he wanted to know was how I was doing," Vanier recalled during an interview Wednesday. "The second thing he asked was what you should do if a rifled Brenneke lead slug pierces your lower abdomen."
Vanier remembers Swanson as a very pleasant conversationalist with a special gift for engaging in small talk. Though their exchange was mere minutes in length, Vanier confessed to being captivated by the good-natured chuckling Swanson expressed in between his agonizing cries of pain.
An ambulance was immediately dispatched to Swanson, and while he couldn't pinpoint his exact location, he described it over the telephone as "just near that building that used to be the old roller disco," adding, "Ah, those were the days."
Emergency response teams are instructed to free up communication lines as soon as possible, but Vanier continued the conversation with Swanson because "he was just so darned nice and talkative."
"He even gave me his home phone number, in case I ever wanted to 'just talk,'" Vanier further stated. "Apparently he was prone to accidents like these."
While engaged in a verbose discourse on the recently released Edgar Wright film Hot Fuzz, Swanson was hoisted into the back of the ambulance by paramedics Raymond Grey and Leo Mohammed. Once inside, an internally bleeding Swanson interrupted his discussion with the men to ask them where they had purchased their shoes, resolved that he "just [had] to get a pair of those."
In spite of his buoyant spirit, Swanson died en route to Jefferson Memorial Hospital. Grey and Mohammed confirmed his final words were, "How about this weather we're having?"
