Times People Saw Someone Almost Die Due To Their Own Actions

All actions have consequences, some more negative and severe than others.

But sometimes, someone will do something so extreme or stupid, it could almost cost them their life.

Cringing in anticipation, Redditor DryWip asked:

"Redditors that have witnessed someone NEARLY die due to their actions, what were they doing?"

Swallowing Candy

"When I was 11 or 12 years old, my little brother sucked down a hard candy while we stood in the hallway in our house."

"He immediately grabbed his throat, and his eyes widened in panic. He couldn’t say anything, and his tongue kept darting out of his mouth."

"I got behind him and performed the world’s most poorly formed, but extremely forceful, Heimlich maneuver. The candy shot out of his mouth."

"He was fine and, true to form, my parents didn’t believe the episode ever happened. I still resent that, but am thankful that the Boy Scouts taught me how."

- TheColdwind

Rescuing A Two-By-Four

"I worked at a lumberyard. A two-by-four got jammed between two conveyor belts, and instead of shutting the machine down, a coworker jumped up on the conveyor belt and tried to get it unstuck."

"When he finally got the board pulled out, the belts started running again, and he flew down the line and very easily could have slipped between the belts and gotten seriously injured or killed."

- YAZhivago

"I have never done this, but I've always wanted to do something similar. I worked in a warehouse that had one of, if not the, largest mileage in conveyor systems. We also had these giant, very thick, very rigid totes that would ride the conveyors to get the items from point A to point Z and anywhere in between."

"These totes could fit a small human in them, easily. There are several downhill slopes (a couple of steep ones, too) on this whole system."

"Anyway, I'm only five feet tall and so desperately want to hop in one of these totes and go for a ride."

- wyntr86

Too Many Movie Theater Concessions

"My dad fell asleep when we went to a movie theatre. I noticed his skin was really gray when we got out to the car."

"I took him to the hospital, and his blood sugar was 758. I was very surprised he wasn't in a coma."

- officialsmolkid

"This same exact thing happened to my grandpa. I was really young, so I didn't know what was happening, but I'll never forget seeing my dad as stressed as he was that day."

- Willing_Ad2724

Chicken To The Extreme

"Running across a busy road. The kid got hit by two cars travelling in opposite directions, was in a coma for nine months, and didn't remember any of it."

"When he came back to school, he said the biggest shock he got on waking was pubic hair. He'd had none when he got hit."

- Different-Employ9651

"Those cars made him A MANNNNN."

- The_Better_Devil

"If he's not careful and gets hit again, he might get superpowers."

- UBC145

(Cue Music) Under Pressure...

"Pulling apart a split rim to change a tire without letting out the air first. Luckily, the rim went flying across the shop into a wall instead of his face, and all the dude had was a sore wrist for injuries."

"There’s a reason these are called widow makers and most tire shops won’t touch 'em."

- congteddymix

"That guy was more than lucky to only have a sore wrist. I've heard people say being lucky with split rims means you just have an incredibly bad concussion or die quickly."

- Early_Vegetable3932

An Unsupervised Swim

"There was an unsupervised child at a motel pool with no lifeguard. My friend and I had to jump in and pull him out."

"We wound up calling CPS after the mother arrived and got angry at the kid for 'making a scene' for almost f**king DROWNING."

- Red_Lily_Shaymin

"Something like that happened to me, too. I walked into a pool when I was four or five, with no idea how to swim, when my father walked away to throw away his plate. My father is strict and mean, and frequently said 'no' to simple, safe things like popsicles and paint because he didn't want to clean up a mess. I thought that's why he wouldn't let me in the pool party; I'd get wet."

"So I sank immediately after walking into the pool, didn't even know to hold my breath, and had no idea what was happening."

"Someone in the pool grabbed me and pulled me up. My father waited until we were in the car to start yelling, and then he yelled about making the car wet and embarrassing him at the pool."

"This is the consequence of always saying 'no' to both mundane things and actual dangers; kids don't understand the difference."

- Saphira9

Something Out Of A Cartoon

"When we were young, around 12, I watched my cousin attempt to cross a very busy street with very poor judgment…"

"I still can’t to this day believe what I saw as he made it halfway across and somehow got spun around, whether by his own survival reflex or maybe he got clipped by a passing car just right…"

"But he never broke his running stride and ended up next to me where he started."

"Then this dumba** looked me dead in the eyes and said, 'Oh cool, you made it, too! That wasn’t the best idea."

"I, jaw dropped, had to explain to him what the h**l just happened."

- foolishdrunk211

You Don't Want This Kind Of Strainer

"He was paddling an Ozark stream in November without a lifejacket or thermal protection, flipped, got pulled into a strainer, and held under."

"Had there not been other experienced paddlers on the river who saw what happened, and who had the skills and equipment to save him, he would have died."

- OutdoorKittenMe

"As soon as I read 'strainer,' my guts absolutely dropped into my feet. I'm glad he made it."

- Traditional-Chain107

Scary Stories By The Campfire

"I caught a friend's three-year-old as they walked between a bonfire and people sitting down, stepping up onto a log. The log started to roll into the fire, so I somehow managed to catch him with my leg and then my hands."

"It was entirely instinct. I did not think about it at all and just suddenly found us both on the ground."

"He was very scared but did not get burned. He had on a large polyester coat, so that could have gone poorly. Now that I have little kids myself, it is a good reminder for fire safety!"

- beesinabox3

Shallow Diving

"A drunk friend dove headfirst into a public pool during the night. He didn't notice it was a pool for toddlers only 20 centimeters (seven inches) deep. He crushed his skull and barely survived."

- GrossstadtYuppie

"My husband works in healthcare and has had four memorable quadriplegic patients. Three of them were in diving accidents, two while drunk. The other fell out of a tree while high on something."

- hurryuplilacs

No Childproofing

"This was back before baby seats or seatbelts were required."

"My little brother learned to open the car door. My parents didn't have a car with child locks, either."

"My Dad was picking my Mum up from work, did a huge turn into the car park, and my little brother developed his door-opening skill and immediately started to roll out."

"I grabbed him by his foot and held on, and then I got scolded for not watching him closely enough."

- Mistakes4

"Similar story. My brothers and I are in the back seat. We're three, four, and six years old at the time. My older brother is to my left, and my younger brother is to my right. We're all dressed up because it is Halloween, and we're on the way back from trick-or-treating in town."

"My younger brother is dressed as the devil, and he's fiddling with the door. I tell him to stop, and he stops for a moment, looks back at me through his devil mask, and then goes back to fiddling with the door."

"I am in the middle of ratting him out to my parents when the door opens and my brother is gone."

"Luckily, a few things worked in his favour."

"1. This is Canada, so Halloween in my part of the country meant there was already snow on the ground."

"2. This is rural prairies, so we are on a dirt road with ditches on either side. The road is about a car and a half wide, and the shoulder is tiny if it exists at all. So no curbs and no extra concrete to bash your head into."

"So basically, he rolled out of the car and landed in a soft pillow of snow in the ditch. When we got back to him, he was perfectly fine except for the fact that his devil mask was slightly askew."

"He was lucky. Your little brother was lucky to have you, too, and that you held on tight."

- aussydog

Not Reading The Ingredients First

"A guy with a peanut allergy decided to eat a Chinese granola bar, despite not knowing Chinese."

"He almost died. My mom drove him to the hospital after his face and throat swelled up, and she saved his life. (This was back when I was in college.)"

- kelcamer

"That was RECKLESS. People really underestimate how serious peanut allergies are. Dude’s lucky OP’s mom acted fast. Anaphylaxis hits hard and fast."

- Silent_Moose95

Don't Drive Sleep-Deprived

"It was me. I was working two jobs (still am now), and I fell asleep while driving. I was close to hitting a tree head-on on but thankfully didn’t."

"I didn’t hurt myself or anyone else, but it definitely put it in perspective that if you’re tired, PULL OVER. One of the dumbest things I’ve done."

- mfmchard27

"This happened to me, as well. Working 60+ hours a week, I was driving home with my coworker/roommate, and I fell asleep next to a semi and started drifting over and under the semi trailer. My buddy screamed and woke me up. I'd be dead, and maybe he would be too (guilty shudder) if he wasn't there."

- pop_tart

Hiking The Infamous Trail

"Hiking the Mist Trail at Yosemite. There were two teenage girls goofing around, shoving and grabbing each other."

"They both lost their footing on loose gravel on a slab of rock right next to a huge drop-off. They slid a couple of feet and were dangerously close to the edge."

"It didn't phase them, though. After the briefest of pauses, they both ran giggling up the trail."

- Maverick_Jumboface

"Oh my god. I’ve hiked that trail a lot, and the STUPIDEST thing to do is goof off there!"

"(That, and hike down it in the dark with only one flashlight between eight people, but I’m not admitting to anything…)"

- Witty_Direction6175

Buses And Cell Phones Don't Mix

"My mom and I were visiting London, and my mother is a self-important know-it-all, who stepped in front of a double-decker bus before looking both ways."

"I yanked her back just in time. She was oblivious that she had almost died and got mad at me for yanking on her. Can't help stupid."

- thangle

"I had something kind of similar many years ago. Mobile phones the size of guinea pigs being used by the general public were just becoming a thing."

"I had just gotten off a bus to go see my then-boyfriend and was following behind a lady pushing a baby in a pram with a toddler in tow. She was blathering on loudly on her mobile and completely failed to notice her little boy wander into the road right in front of a bus."

"I literally dragged him out of the road by the hood of his coat and whatever limb I could grab, the bus driver slammed on his brakes, and she started SCREAMING at me, 'DONT YOU TOUCH MY CHILD!'"

"The bus driver got out and gave her a pretty panicky earful, but she continued to yell and give me the middle finger as she stormed off, yanking her crying little boy along."

"I turned up at my then-boyfriend's house and promptly burst into tears at what I had nearly witnessed."

- Proper-Throwaway-23

"It's so many years ago now that maybe it doesn't bother you anymore, but maybe she processed it after you left, and even if she didn't, maybe she decided to keep a closer eye on him so he didn't get 'kidnapped' again."

- Meoowth

"I still get moments of panic occasionally when I see small kids not being properly watched by roads, especially if there is a bus in the picture, too."

"I hope it was a massive wake-up call to her after she had time to process what nearly happened because she was utterly oblivious to her little boy, just yammering away on the phone and paying no attention to him at all."

"I was so angry in the moment and probably said some choice words to her, but by the time I got to my boyfriend's house, all that adrenaline had faded, and I was an absolute wreck. Based on the bus driver's reaction, I don't expect he fared much better for a while, either."

- Proper-Throwaway-23

We've surely all had our fair share of accidents and "how stupid of me" moments, but rarely do they come together in such shocking, near-death experiences as these.

Fortunately, for these individuals, everyone was okay, and hopefully, they walked away having learned what they could do differently next time, if it wasn't something that could be avoided permanently.