I can’t speak from experience because I’ve never been in a car accident of that nature and impact but I can understand he would certainly be shaken up and disoriented, especially if he was possibly trying to get away from someone.
The first time I watched the full dashcam of when Trooper Flores arrived on the scene, and there was Jason’s Nissan Altima, lights still on and I sat there and thought of those precious minutes and hours following and was he still alive and out there to be found?
It's never been stated AFAIK but I wondered when the VFF arrived on the scene an hour after the accident and informed LE, whether he called out to see if anyone answered him. I know he did walk up and down the road a bit but not whether he called out.
I don't believe the trooper showed any concern for the person involved in the accident; right off the bat he assumed the driver was under the influence (which was correct) but he never once thought the driver may be injured only that they fled the scene. He took the blunts found in the knapsack and left the fish and JL's belongings strewn on the road. He didn't find it odd there was obvious signs the driver completely disrobed while walking toward Luling or that they left all their belongings behind including a fish. The only aspect that interested the trooper was the weed. That narrow mindedness is what stalled a more immediate search for the driver.
I get that LE get jaded about certain aspects of police work but a missing driver, possibly injured, on a deserted road that his own dash cam evidence showed he never once passed another vehicle on the way to the crash site, should have given him pause. I presume the other LE who arrived on the scene from the opposite direction also had dash cam evidence of his own to record the remoteness and lack of traffic.
Sunrise in Luling on December 14, 2020 was 7:16:38 am. Twilight started around 6:51:47 am. Even if it had only been a cursory look around (before an organized search was underway) LE could have sent a few LEOs to the area to check for a person or a body. No one was searching for the driver not even hours later when KL arrived.
One thing I read, way back when, is that when JL's clothing and belongings were found his watch was also found. However, it looked like it was
placed on the ground with the straps spread outward which suggests a conscious thought rather than just tossed. If that information is true it could suggests that JL wasn't in a confused state, IMO.
I'd like to know whether anyone could give some kind of inventory of JL's clothes that he wore all the time. Surely he had more than a couple of t-shirts or shorts stuffed into a backpack to spend an extended time away from his dorm or his parent's home in Missouri City. Did we ever get a inventory of the contents of the backpack?