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Took these on Aug 18, 2019 around 8:00 pm at a wreck I responded to on foot. I heard the car; it was loud & traveling fast. I heard it when it wrecked but wasn’t sure what it hit from the sound it made. I didn’t hear metal & I knew the area was wooded. Would soon find out it was a tree. After it hits, I’m running towards it on the street & its roughly 400 yards away. As I’m approaching the scene, I can see the car in the woods to my right backwards, the driver side facing me, driver door is not open & I see no one outside the vehicle. Vehicle appears to me to be a convertible. It’s right at dark & the car being in the woods its darker in there. I start yelling “driver talk to me”…. “driver talk to me” I yell it again. Nothing. I keep yelling it till I reach the entrance to where the car entered the woods. I yelled it at least 5 times & got no response each time. I’m now standing on the edge of the street looking at the car that is facing me. I am the only one there.
With no response from the driver & how the car ended up in the woods backwards, I knew this was bigger than something I could handle by myself. I made the decision to stay at the road & call 911 vs going to see if I could help anyone in the vehicle first. I wanted medical people on the way before I went to the car in case I got involved with something there that would tie me up from calling for help. I was by myself. I also didn’t know if I would have a phone signal in the trees at the car. As I’m talking to 911 another man is running from my left to help. He runs to me & asks what’s going on. Told him driver has not responded & I’m talking to 911. He goes to the car’s driver side & starts talking to an unresponsive driver.
There’s no physical address for the woods to give 911. I give her the street I’m on &
two cross references, about how far I am from a nearby creek & I’m about ¾ miles east bound off the cross street name that I am on. Tell her I have a single car wreck with a driver that’s not responding & with the vehicle in the woods. I holler at the guy that came to help if he see’s anyone else in the car. He says no & I tell her that. I’m still on the phone with 911 & a few seconds later the driver opens his door & steps out on his on. I tell 911 this, she says helps on the way & we hang up. I run to the driver’s side of the vehicle.
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In this pic, the driver has just stepped out of the car & is bent over trying to gather himself & the guy there to help is to my right. I’m not a dr & I keep it simple in these type situations. If you’re not bleeding & can stand up on your on, then you’re good to me. This driver met those but I knew after what he just came out of he wasn’t 100%.
Driver stands up looks at me, asks my name & give him my first. He says “sunset I don’t want to go to jail”, & the helper (never got his name) asks “what’s up with that”. I’m thinking the driver is about to bail & if does I’m not running him down. I tell the driver we need to turn the key off to the car. He tries to turn the key off & says he can’t & asked me to try. I stick my head inside the car to remove the key & I see paper money everywhere. Key won’t turn off because vehicle’s shift lever is still in drive. I knew what the money was & now why he didn’t want to go to jail. I’m not concerned about this because of the feedback I’m getting from the driver. He’s still rattled from the impact.
All 3 of us & only us are standing close to the same area that the picture was taken.. Total time that has past for everything up to this point has been less than 3 minutes. My phone rings & its 911. They are asking me for my location again & I’m telling her again the same thing I told her earlier. The driver grabs his head & says “where’s my baby”. I asked him “you had a baby in the car”? He didn’t answer & was just staring at me. I asked 911 if she heard what he said & she said she heard “baby”. I said “mame this driver is telling me he had a baby in this car, the tops peeled back & the baby has possibly been ejected. Can I please have some help, I’m in the woods & I’m running out of light. I’ve got to get off the phone & search for a baby. My first immediate thought it was an infant from the word baby. I didn’t ask I just thought that & all I was thinking about was I gotta move.
I go back inside the car from the driver’s door & start feeling with my hands all over concentrating on the low spots. Paying attention to the floor boards front & back. Nothing. I’m out of the car & ask the driver what color clothes is it wearing. I’m hoping for white with it getting dark. The helper says hang on, I think he’s talking about his girlfriend. I asked the driver are you talking about your girlfriend & he says yes. What a huge huge relief. Soon as he said where’s my baby, I just knew from what I was seeing from the cars condition, it was very highly possible someone was ejected.
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They walk towards the street & a police car pulls up. I walk around to the passenger side for the first time & there’s paper money scattered all over the ground. His cell phone was lying on the ground on that side too, I pick it up & put it inside the car. I’m the only one at the car now & I start picking up the money & put it in my pocket. Probably picked up close to $1000. Another police officer arrives & he comes to the car where I am. He sees me picking up some of the money. We acknowledge each other. Tell him I’ve got this money I picked up & wanted to give it to him. He asked me to put it inside the car. Told him I’d rather he do that & handed him everything I had. I was still in the car area on the passenger side when the same officer found a bag of weed that was inside the car. I see it but don’t know much it weighs. Fire department shows up with a thermal imaging camera to make sure there was no baby. I walked around with them until they were done. All that money at that scene was confiscated. It was free money sitting there. Police could’ve taken some, tow truck driver could have taken some & even I could’ve taken what I picked up. I don’t roll like that.
I leave the woods & the guy that came to help was still around & he said there was an AR rifle found in the car. 21 year old kid selling weed with an AR in the car is not a big crime anymore. Driver spotted me a few months later & asked was I the one that helped him. Said I was. He thanked me. Asked if had any injuries from it said he injured his right wrist. I didn’t ask any of his legal problems from it.
I wanted to say something about what happened but I wasn’t going tell him to stop selling weed or what he needed to do. I told him he dodged a big one & not everyone gets a second chance.
His car entered the only opening in that tree line in a heavily wooded area. If he wrecks 10 feet before or 10 feet after then who knows. I thought he was dead when he wouldn’t respond.
As I was talking to 911 the first time, I was scanning around looking to see how he got in the woods like that. I saw the tree he hit to my left. It had glass embedded in it higher up than the cars height. Car was air born about to flip on the driver’s side when the back glass area struck the tree & turned him around & sent backwards into the woods. The car I thought was a convertible when I first saw it…..wasn’t
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