He was working the graveyard shift, patrolling the streets of Santa Barbara in the early 2000s when the call came in — an injury traffic collision. Dispatch said it was bad.
Three young adults, around 20. The driver had been drinking. The car had been traveling at least one hundred miles an hour toward the intersection of Modoc Road and Las Positas when he lost control. It rolled. And rolled. And kept rolling.
Traffic collisions are among Sergeant Mike McGrew’s least favorite calls. They are, as he puts it, “chaos — one we are meant to bring order to,” despite the fact that officers arrive with little more than basic first-aid kits in the trunks of their patrol cars.