Shot In The Face

A taxi driver had been shot point blank in the face. He had picked up a customer, driven them around town, and had turned his head to face them sitting in the back seat when the shot him. They only wanted to steal what little money he had collected that night. The story was all over the news. People were outraged, though everyone knew that these were the dangers of being a taxi driver in a large metropolitan city. The saddest part of the story was the many ad only recently taken the job as a second job to earn some extra money to support his family of a wife and a 9 year old daughter. They had fallen on hard times and he was willing to do anything it took to earn enough money so they could make ends meet. Little did he know that the the night-job would cost him his life.

I picked him up at the Medical Examiner’s office several days after the shooting. An exhaustive investigation had taken place, a full autopsy had occurred and his face looked frightful. The gun, which had gone off at close range, had shattered his face, leaving it looking deformed. Upon looking a photo of the man in life, I could not recognize his face in death. The body bag zipper was stained with blood trying to seep out. It was a mess, to say the least. I unzipped the bag, placed an ID tag on his ankle and zipped him back up.

I arrived at the funeral home in the afternoon. He was a large man, Not fat, but big-boned. Tall and heavy. The picture provided to the prep room was one of him with his 9 year old daughter. How sad that he had been struck down so early in life. I could only imagine the grief his family had been going through. The embalmer, Chad, immediately wanted him placed on the table so he could begin the process of trying to restore his face for the funeral viewing. Upon looking at the situation, Chad concluded that he would be unable to restore the man’s face to a recognizable state. This was odd, since Chad prided himself in being an artist who would work miracles on even the most mangled corpse. The problem was the excess of bruising and swelling that had taken place on the man’s face. Also, too much tissue has been destroyed when the bullet entered. It was not a simple bullet hole, but rather a large mangling of the face.

Chad picked up the phone and called the funeral director. He old him the body was in bad shape and that he did not feel it could be restored for viewing. The funeral director said he’d like to come take a look before any decisions were made about closed caskets. He knew that he would have to be the one to tell the family that they should consider a closed casket. It was fact of life, but a hard conversation to have with a family in grieving.

The funeral director showed up a few minutes later. He took a one look at the corpse and agreed, the casket would have to remain closed. The family would not be able to see their husband and father one last time. Technically, this was not true since the family has full rights to make any decision they want. The funeral director can suggest anything and usually the family agrees. In this case, the family said they wanted to the casket open so that everyone could see what a horrific crime had taken place. It was a statement of sorts to show the world that this crime had happened and that something should be done about it. The funeral director was not thrilled with their decision, but it was their decision to make. Not his. His job was to carry out their wishes no matter what (as long as it was legal).

So after his body had been cleaned and prepared, I dressed him in a suit, being careful not to disturb his mangled face. In this case, his hair did not need to be fixed. A bad hair day was the least of his worries at this point. I placed him in his casket using the body lift machine. This is machine with straps that enables a body t be hoisted into the air just above the casket and then lowered in.

As I rolled the casket into place, I could only imagine the families horrified expressions as they viewed the body. My supervisor asked me to stand in the room and make sure the situation did not get out of hand and close the casket should the family request it. I normally did not have any contact wit the families during a funeral service or viewing but this was an exception.

Surprisingly, the family did not react the way I thought they would. I assumed crying and ashing of teeth would be involved. The quietly viewed the body, made a few comments, and went bout their way visiting with others who had come to pay their respects. I was surprised, but relieved.

This situation taught me that sometimes its best to simply let the grieving family decide what they want. Sometimes we know whats best for us, and a funeral director does not. Sometimes our instincts lead us in the right way. I am convinced that leaving the taxi cab driver’s casket open for all the world to see the horrific sight was the best therapy that could have been given for the grief-stricken family.

~ by claytonguiltner on January 14, 2008.