Knightdale police Lt. David Simmons said the money was recovered after the vehicle crashed at Sandy Springs and Smithfield Road, south of the license checkpoint set up near Knightdale Elementary School about midnight last Saturday.

The driver apparently ran away from the car after the crash, Simmons said. He said the car was registered to a man in Rocky Mount and that the Knightdale Police Department is working with the Rocky Mount Police Department to find him for questioning.

Simmons said the incident began when a man in a 2001 Infiniti attempted to go around another car police had stopped as part of the driver's license checkpoint. He said Officer Chuck Capps approached the Infiniti to get it to stop.

Simmons said when the driver rolled down his window, Capps smelled a strong odor of marijuana and ordered the driver out of the car.

According to Simmons the man refused and that he and Capps got into a struggle.

"He dropped it in drive and took off and luckily Officer Capps didn't get caught in the door jamb or seat belts," said Simmons.

By the time police got back to their vehicles, the car had traveled south and turned left on Sandy Springs Road. Police later found a car that had crashed there.

He said when Charles Bullock of B&B Wrecker Service and Capps went through the car to prepare it for towing, they found the money in the glove box. Capps also found a small amount of marijuana in the vehicle, Simmons said.