Newly released footage has offered insight into the 2021 incident in which an Iowa cop clings for dear life to a car roof after routine traffic stop goes awry.
The video released by the Carroll Police Department shows Officer Patrick McCarty confronting arrestee Dennis Guider Jr. about an outstanding warrant from Illinois. However, instead of complying, Guider opened the driver door, pushed out a woman who had been driving the vehicle and accelerated, prompting McCarty to jump onto the car's hood just as the car was beginning to move away from the scene.
Desperate to stop Guider, McCarty shouted at him to halt while clinging to the car's roof with his firearm drawn. Additional footage included in the release not only include body-worn recordings but also dashcam video that shows McCarty momentarily kneeling atop the car hood before being flung onto the roof.
Additional police vehicles joined the pursuit, but it only lasted about a minute. McCarty is eventually seen being thrown onto the ground after Guider turned into a gravel lot and drove through a ditch. McCarty suffered a broken back and was treated at the St. Anthony Regional Hospital.
Guider pleaded guilty to the charges in March 2023, two years after the incident occurred. During sentencing, Guider's attorney argued for leniency, claiming that McCarty had not received proper training on how to handle a situation involving a moving vehicle.
“I feared for my life after the officer pull[ed] out his gun and jump[ed] on the hood of my car,” Guider wrote in a letter to the Carroll County clerk of court in February. He also noted that he had been unarmed during the traffic stop.
Guider was sentenced on May 11 and will serve up to five years in prison, separately from his sentence in Illinois.