Xu, 25, was driving her Mercedes south on Route 288 near West Creek Parkway when she hit a deer about 9 p.m. that night. Her car was disabled in the center of the left lane with the hood smashed up to the windshield, Caudill said.

Ransone, 41, and his girlfriend, Abbott, 45, were a Glen Allen couple who stopped to help Xu and pulled their Chevrolet Suburban onto the right shoulder. They walked across the highway and were standing with Xu when Carr’s Audi hit them. Ransone was on Xu’s phone talking to a state police dispatcher at the time of impact, Caudill said.

Carr had been out to dinner and was driving toward home when the crash happened. Caudill said Carr was traveling 73 mph in a 65-mph zone before she started braking.

A witness who was traveling behind Carr’s vehicle and in the right lane reported that the Audi was not swerving and did not appear to be traveling too fast, Caudill said. Other cars were slowly going around the Mercedes to the right, according to another witness.

The hazard lights on both Xu’s Mercedes and the Suburban were flashing, Caudill said. The witness who had been traveling behind Carr reported that he was able to stop without locking up his brakes after he saw hazard lights.