Police in Minnesota saved a teenage driver’s life by directing him to crash his car. Samuel Dutcher, 18, was driving from North Dakota to Minnesota, on September 17, when his vehicle reportedly malfunctioned. Unable to stop the car from accelerating, the teen called 911 desperate for help. Police jumped in, and their unconventional solution likely saved Dutcher’s life.
He and his mom, Catherine, spoke with WDAY about the the terrifying ordeal and how lucky they are that everyone walked away unharmed.
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The teen knew something was wrong.
He told WDAY that as he drove in rural North Dakota, his Honda Pilot inexplicably began going faster and faster. Dutcher was unable to slow the car down and called his mom and 911 for help. Police scrambled to find the teen’s runaway car and tried to find ways to stop him.
They soon realized Dutcher had no control over the SUV as the brakes didn’t work, and the accelerator seemed stuck. Police initially thought they’d used stop sticks to pop his tires, but realized that solution wouldn’t work.
He told WDAY he thought, “I’m going to die.”
He made a terrifying phone call to his mom.
Catherine Dutcher told WDAY when she got the call, she didn’t think there was any way her son could survive.
“Early, honestly, I was like, ‘My kid is probably dead.’ I was like, ‘God, please don’t kill my kid, please don’t,'” the mom said.
She got on the phone with a dispatcher who told her the police would do everything in their power to save her son’s life.
Dutcher's car moved through town after town.
Unable to stop at lights or stop signs, the car bolted through small town after small town. Police dashcam shows the vehicle racing past a patrol car at 113 mph. Minnesota State Trooper Zach Gruver and Clay County Deputy Zach Johnson, realized they had just minutes to make a move.
“It was Deputy Johnson who said, ‘This road ends in a T in 3 to 4 miles, so at that point, we knew we had to get this car stopped,” Gruver told WDAY.
The terrifying footage shows Dutcher blazing through town without another vehicle in sight.
Police made a bold decision.
Police told Dutcher in order to survive, he would have to crash his car into the squad car.
“I was going 130 mph,” Gruver said. “The [squad] car tops out at 140.”
Johnson pulled alongside Dutcher and told him to crash into the car, as it was the only chance he had at survival.
“Yes, run into the back of his [the trooper’s] car,” Johnson ordered the teenager.
Dutcher hit Gruver’s patrol car, and his nightmare ended. Miraculously, no one was hurt.
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Dutcher said when the adrenaline came down, he couldn't believe what he'd been through.
He told WDAY, “It hit me then that this really just happened. At that point, I just started to freak out.”
His mom told KARE she was so thankful to police for helping her son and she’s sure an “angel” watched over him that night.
Gruver told WDAY he was just doing his job.
He said, “I don’t think I did anything special. I think it came down to that I had the fastest car and I was able to get in front of him. There were a lot of factors in there where things could have gone very wrong very fast.”
Dutcher is home and back at school at M-State in Moorhead, Minnesota, studying auto mechanics.
