[Video] Iowa police officer leaps onto suspect’s hood, breaks his back

Police Officer Patrick McCarty was at a drive-thru in Carrol, Iowa when he spotted a red sedan. In the passenger seat? Dennis James Guider Jr., wanted for forgery in Illinois. McCarty chased the car down and pulled it over. He stayed calm at first.

“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but it sounds like you’ve got a warrant out of Illinois,” he said.

Then things escalated. Guider ignored orders to step out of the car. Instead, he shoved his girlfriend, the driver, out of the seat and took the wheel. McCarty stepped in front of the sedan and drew his gun. “Stop the car, man. Stop the car,” he shouted. But Guider didn’t stop. That’s when McCarty jumped onto the hood, his gun pointed at the windshield.

What happened next

Guider hit the gas. Officer McCarty holstered his gun and gripped the hood, his body splayed across the windshield as the sedan lurched forward. “Stop the car, man! Stop the f—— car!” he swore, but Guider didn’t slow down. Instead, he floored it, tearing out of the parking lot and into traffic. McCarty’s bodycam showed him clinging to the car as Guider wove through streets, narrowly missing other vehicles. The officer’s shouts turned to panicked curses as the car picked up speed.

Backup units swarmed the area, trying to cut Guider off. Sirens wailed, and McCaty’s partner flanked the sedan, but Guider dodged every attempt to box him in. The cruiser forced Guider to swerve, clipping his rear bumper. Instead of stopping, Guider jerked the wheel and kept going—sending McCarty sliding up onto the roof. The officer managed to hold on, but his grip was slipping.

Guider sped into a gravel parking lot, fishtailing as McCarty clung for his life. Dashcam footage captured the moment Guider hit a ditch. The impact jolted McCarty, launching him off the roof. He tumbled hard into the dirt, landing with a sickening thud. Guider didn’t stop. He plowed through the ditch and kept going, leaving McCarty sprawled on the ground, unable to move.

The chase lasted just over 60 seconds and reached speeds of 50 mph. While the police officers attended to McCarty, Guider was able to get away. He abandoned his damaged sedan about a mile down the road. He stole another car and vanished across the state line into Illinois. The chase was over, but the manhunt had just begun. Authorities tracked Guider to his home state, where they arrested him days later. Meanwhile, McCarty was rushed to the hospital with a fractured vertebrae.

Could McCarty have avoided it?

At first, McCarty claimed he was standing in front of the car when Guider accelerated, and the suspect “forced me onto the vehicle itself.” But bodycam footage contradicted his story. Police Chief Brad Burke admitted, “in the heat of the moment (McCarty) made a lapse in judgment in an attempt to apprehend the suspect.” Burke added, “This is a training point that is used for all the officers going forward from the incident.”

McCarty later said, “Each situation is different,” but admitted the stop, “certainly didn’t play out the way I intended.”

The judge and Guider’s lawyer were more direct. Guider’s attorney, Joel Baxter, argued McCarty “compounded the situation.” “We don’t know would have happened if Officer McCarty hadn’t stepped in front of the vehicle, hadn’t drawn his service weapon, hadn’t stepped onto the vehicle.”

Judge Joseph McCarville agreed. He said to Guider, “Officer McCarty probably should have just stepped aside and let you go, because you weren’t wanted for murder.” But McCarville didn’t let Guider off easy.

How reckless was Guider?

Guider admitted to panicking when McCarty jumped on the hood. “I feared for my life after the officer pull out his gun and jump on the hood of my car.”

But the judge didn’t buy it. “Officer McCarty was polite and respectful when he approached the car, was treating everybody with dignity, and then you kick your girlfriend out of the car and you take off.”

Carroll County Attorney John Werden didn’t mince words either. “That is the most reckless driving behavior I’ve seen in my entire (20 year) career.”

Guider was sentenced to up to five years in Iowa, plus time in Illinois for forgery. McCarty returned to work after months of rehab. His department now uses the incident to teach officers what not to do in a high-stress arrest.