Urban legend? A fable? Or is there truth in the tale I heard decades ago.... before political correctness permeated our society?
The tank truck driver wrecked his truck. Trapped in the crushed cab the tank trailer started leaking due to a rupture.
The potent acid was draining, flowing onto the driver, whose flesh was being eaten away.
Screaming in mortal agony the California Highway Patrolman who came upon the scene was diverting traffic while waiting for rescue personnel to arrive.
Witnesses said that the trucker, stuck in that crushed cab, unable to be removed, was begging, screaming out, to be relieved of the unbearable pain.
Supposedly, witnesses were able to see the trucker actually "dissolving" before their eyes!!!
Unable to bear the event, the tale tells of the CHP using his weapon to end the guy's misery.
Investigation later determined the trucker had no chance of surviving.... that he would have died in horrible agoony, that the CHP had actually done the guy a favor but that he had to be let go from his job for political reasons.
The tale ends with the CHP not being charged with a crime though he still lost his job. The trucker's family is said to have thanked the CHP for doing what he did to stop the horrid suffering.
No proof...... the tale was told by fireman in the San Francisco Bay area back in the early 1960s.
Recalling that tale/fable/story/whatever I ponder the after-effects of a severe crash where a hybrid vehicle's battery ruptures, allowing the caustic fluid to enter the passenger compartment where the occupant(s) are unable to escape.
I haven't read anywhere of the possibility or impossibility of such an event occurring.