The highway deputy was the first officer on the scene. When he got there, he quickly wished that he taken his girlfriend's advice and called in sick that day. He actually had a stuffy nose but it wasn't bad enough to skip out on his responsibilities. Yet there he was, out there on the highway in the pouring rain wishing that he had taken her advice and spent the day at home watching Netflix with her. It was too late for that as he took some flares out of the back of his cruiser and placed them on the road after lighting them up so that he could signal to oncoming cars that there was an accident they had to avoid. The officer also parked his cruiser behind the cars that were involved and kept his lights on. The accident took up two of three lanes, but he couldn't touch a thing until the paramedics and the fire department arrived. If there were any fatalities, traffic would be cut off until the meat wagon arrived to take them away. After the scene was secure to prevent additional cars from adding to the pileup, the officer ran up to the nearest car and checked under for any fuel leaks. None there and he went on to check the others and luckily there was no fuel to ignite any fires.
So far so good he thought as he went over to the car that was damaged the most to check on the passengers of each car. When he got to that car it was pretty much totaled and the driver, who luckily was the only person in the car, was dead. Definitely going to need the meat wagon for this one, he thought as the young officer ran over to check the other cars. The first only had minor damage from not being able to hit the brakes after the initial accident occurred. But the other car involved in the accident was hit in the side and was in a ditch. Like the other two there was no fuel leak and as he slowly came down the ditch, he checked on the driver, who was also his only passenger. His car had no airbag so his face impacted with the steering wheel and that completed crushed his nose. The trauma of hitting the steering wheel also knocked him unconscious, so at minimum based on how hard his nose smashed into the wheel, this was at least a severe concussion.
The man in the car was unrecognizable as his face was covered in blood from his nose. The officer checked for vitals and the man was still alive. Thankfully that whole thing about a bone in your nose being hit into your brain was just an urban legend. Had it been true, this man would have been killed as well. He looked like someone smashed him in the face with a sledge hammer. He stayed by the man's side and waited for the paramedics to arrive. When they did they first put a brace around the driver's neck before trying to remove him from the vehicle. While they were doing that, the sheriff arrived on the scene and called his man to get out of the ditch to speak with him.
As the young officer made his way to the road, he tipped his hat to his boss. "Morning Sheriff."
"Good morning, Deputy." The Sheriff replied as he looked at the car below. "Do we have any idea what happened here?"
"From what I gathered," his deputy started as he pointed to the car that contained the only fatality so far. "This was apparently all his fault."
"Is that so?" The sheriff inquired.
"It is." The deputy confirmed. "I have eye witnesses that claim he ran a red light and t-boned this guy here. If the car had hit the driver's side instead of the passenger side, this guy would be dead as well."
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"And the third car?" The sheriff asked.
"Just some dumb broad who can't drive and didn't have enough space to hit the brakes in time." The young deputy answered.
"Not surprising." The sheriff said as he kept looking around. While he was watching the paramedics remove the driver from his car in the ditch, he looked at the back of the car. "Florida plates."
The deputy looked down as well.
"I didn't notice that." The deputy confessed.
"You do remember this morning's briefing?" The Sheriff reminded him, "The feds asked us to look for a blue car with Florida plates that might be coming this way. Any of that ring a bell, deputy?"
"I forgot," The deputy admitted, "I'm sorry."
The Sheriff gestured to the car in the ditch. "And what color is the car we have here with Florida plates?"
The deputy paused for a moment. "It's blue."
"It's blue." The sheriff confirmed as he started to walk into the ditch and inspect the car.
"I'm sorry." The deputy repeated. "I was so consumed with securing the accident and making sure there wasn't any gas leaks that it completely slipped my mind. The guy's face is so beaten, I couldn't recognize him anyway."
"Well let's take a look around." The sheriff said as he opened the door and started to inspect inside the car.
"Don't we need a warrant for this?" the deputy asked.
"No, we don't." The sheriff answered, "This is the scene of an accident. We are inspecting all cars for signs of impairment to make sure none of these people were driving under the influence. So I'm inspecting each car for possible beer cans or bottles of liquor. That is well within my right when investigating a fatal collision on my highway."
After looking through the interior of the ditched car, the sheriff reached into the driver's side which was now vacated and pulled the keys out of the ignition. He tossed the keys to the deputy who was still watching.
"Open the trunk." He ordered.
"Yes, Sir." The deputy said, as he caught the keys.
While the kid was working on the trunk since there were quite a few keys on the ring, the sheriff continued to look inside the car, looking for a wallet or papers that could help identify the driver. He found none. Not even forms for insurance in the glove compartment. But there was something under the passenger seat that did catch his interest. The sheriff stood up and held up his right hand.
"Look what I found in the glove compartment." He said as he waved the handgun around.
It was a 9mm glock semi-automatic. Since the weapon was not legal without the proper paperwork in this state, he now had every right to keep looking around. He looked back at the deputy who was not responding.
"What's in there?" The sheriff asked.
"Not what, Sir." The deputy answered. "But who."
The sheriff bolted to the back of the car, and his suspicions had been correct. This was the blue car that the feds were asking everyone to keep an eye out to look for. In the trunk of that car was two dead women. At first the sheriff thought the accident might have killed them but after minimal inspection he could tell that likely wasn't correct. Chances are forensics will tell him that they were dead for a few days. This was the car and man the feds were looking for, and had an irresponsible driver not ran a red light, he would have flown through the sheriff's district unnoticed. Fate was not on this man's side today as the largest manhunt in the nation had come to an end, all thanks to dumb luck.