Originally Posted By: jfarsetta
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Guys,
I was on the inspection from Hell, yesterday. I'm inspecting a home which was a work in progress. The owner was called back to Korea and needed to sell the house. A nice couple from Connecticut wanted to buy it. They called me for an inspection. Met them there at 9:30am Sunday.
House had lots of problems, but none really major. The buyers had a nice 7 or 8 year old boy with them. He was excited about the house and wanted to go with his dad to check out the yard and neighborhood. The father finally agreed to take this kid outside. As I'm getting ready to go upstaire, I hear this kid running toward his dad and the front door. Then I hear a thud and see this kid on the floor. He slid or tripped. He starts wailing. I figure he hit his knee, foot, or leg when he fell and hurt himself. His mom runs in and starts screaming. The kid somehow managed to hit something with the underside of his neck. His neck had a really nasty slit in it, from about 1" back from his chin, all the way from the left to the right. Blood started to flow (not gush). He was bleeding pretty badly. His mom grabs a rag and pushes it against the cut and picks this screaming kid up. We rush him to the driveway and into the realtors Mercedes.. They burn rubber on the way to the emergency room. I finished the inspection... pretty shaken up about this poor kid.
All I could think about was how happy and excited he was about seeing his new house just before this mishap. The realtor returned about an hour later. A 1/2 inch further back and this Kid would have bled to death. Thankfully, the cut wasn't life threatening. The doctors sewed his muscle and stitched his neck (plastic surgeon). I hung out and waited for him to return. I swear I heard my own kid's screams when he started wailing. Really upsetting. I was in the fire service for 10 years and cut my share of dead, mangled, or screaming people out of cars through those years. Never bothered me much. I guess things really DO change when you have kids.
Funny thing was we couldn't figure out what he cut himself on. Base mouldings werent hazardous, no sharp edges, no tacks or nails on the floor. Nearest we could figure was he hit the corner bead/finished edge of a drywall corner. Nothing else around, and all surfaces were finished, spackled, sanded, and painted.
Joe Farsetta