The caller said that there was a car in the ditch; he didn't say a word about collision.
There is no law in NC that requires a witness to an accident to stop or to render aid.
I think there is a law that states just that; I am thinking I heard David Crabtree on WRAL say that the other night, but I can't find it right this minute.
From WRAL:
"I just passed exit 141 and in between where (U.S. Highway) 64 connects with 95 at exit 141. There is a car in the ditch," the caller said. "There's a car in the ditch. It's in the swamp area, lights on and everything."
The Highway Patrol, a rescue squad and the Nash County Sheriff's Department searched up and down I-95 from mile marker 138 to mile marker 141 but couldn't find anything.
"They were unable to locate (it), not seeing any evidence on the roadway of the crash or seeing off the roadway," said Lt. Everett Clendenin of the Highway Patrol.
__SNIP___
"It would have been helpful had someone been there to direct us to where the vehicle had left the roadway. We didn't have that," he said. The Highway Patrol is talking with the motorist who called 911, but they don't plan to charge him with leaving the scene of an accident, Clendenin said.
I heard them say that the trunk on the car was open, so I am thinking that it sank very quickly and that's why they didn't see it when they went by.
But the following was reported by WRAL on 12/11.
Which makes my point. There were many stories, some of them conflicting and there is no reason to get in an uproar because someone reads a different story.
Note the reference to a collision.
Missing S.C. Couple Found In Car Off I-95 In Rocky Mount
POSTED: 7:26 pm EST December 11, 2006
UPDATED: 12:10 am EST December 12, 2006
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. -- Authorities recovered the bodies of a missing South Carolina couple from inside a vehicle submerged in water along Interstate 95 in Rocky Mount, the North Carolina Highway Patrol said Monday evening.
Wayne Anthony Guay, 57, and Dianne Guay, 55, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., were positively identified as the occupants inside the white Mazda with South Carolina registration, the Highway Patrol said.
Troopers were notified at about 3:30 p.m. about the vehicle, which was found in a swampy area located between mile markers 139 and 140. Sgt. Keith Stone, with the Highway Patrol, said the vehicle apparently ran off the road, hit a tree and landed in a creek.
Authorities did not know how the couple died. The cause of wreck is under investigation but troopers said they did not think speed was a factor.
The Guays were on their way to visit family members in Queens, N.Y. for an early holiday. Christmas gifts were still in the back seat of their four-door sedan when crews pulled it from the creek.
Last week, Nash County 911 Communications had notified the Highway Patrol of a traffic collision near the location where the vehicle was recovered, but emergency personnel were never able to locate a collision at the location or see any debris, the Highway Patrol said.
"A lot of times, these accidents are given out on I-95 in the northbound lane, and it could be a three- or four-mile stretch," Stone said.
A Department of Transportation employee doing work along the highway Monday spotted some luggage floating in the creek. When he went for a closer look, he found the car submerged, authorities said.
The Guays' son-in-law, Mike Liendo, said Monday evening that the family was shocked when it learned that the Highway Patrol was called to the scene but found nothing. He criticized the Highway Patrol for not conducting an immediate or thorough search for the couple.