This is the terrifying moment a police officer clings to the roof of a speeding car as a callous criminal flees the cops with the misguided lawman still hanging on for dear life.
Bodycam footage from cop Patrick McCarty shows him stopping the car of Dennis James Guider Jr, 29, after telling the suspect to "stop the f****** car!" while aiming his gun at him.
Mr McCarty then climbs on top of the vehicle and continues to aim his gun at the driver inside as the police officer can be heard saying: "Put on the God damn brakes!"
The suspect was wanted in relation to an outstanding warrant in a forgery case. As he drove forward, the officer stepped onto the car's hood and crouched with his weapon still pointed at the suspect.
Dennis Jr ignores the request before driving away at speed while officer McCarty clings to the roof, in what was described as a "lapse in judgment" by his police chief.
Dennis kept driving as Mr McCarty clung to the vehicle, screaming at him to put on the brakes.
Mr McCarthy told the wanted man: "I hate to be the one to tell you this, but it sounds like you’ve got a warrant out of Illinois."
The incident took place in Iowa, US, on March 5, 2021. The suspect was wanted on a forgery case in Illinois.
In a letter to the Carroll County clerk of court in February, Guider Jr said: "I feared for my life after the officer pulled out his gun and jumped on the hood of my car."
Dashcam from another patrol vehicle, which attempted to stop Dennis Jr, who is from Chicago, shows officer McCarty ultimately winding up on the roof of the fleeing car.
Eventually Mr McCarty was thrown from the vehicle, breaking his back. He is heard saying on the radio mic "I need medics."
The criminal was sentenced last week to up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a felony count of serious injury by vehicle.
Another felony count related to fleeing police was dismissed as part of the plea deal reached in March.
Dennis Jr, meanwhile, was arrested in Illinois after stealing a car and driving there.
His lawyer, Joel Baxter, wrote in a court filing that as a Black man Dennis Jr was fearful of a white officer, noting that George Floyd had been killed less than a year earlier.
He wrote that Dennis Jr and officer Guider both "made horrible decisions," saying that Mr McCarty didn't follow appropriate training.
Carrol Police Department chief Brad Burke told the Iowa Capital Dispatch that the officer "in the heat of the moment made a lapse in judgment in an attempt to apprehend the suspect."
He added: "This is a training point that is used for all the officers going forward from the incident."
