A crash saved a teenager whose car suddenly sped up to 120 mph in the rural Midwest
Sam Dutcher had just finished grocery shopping when the 18-year-old’s Honda Pilot suddenly started accelerating even though his foot was not on the accelerator. The brakes didn’t work, he couldn’t shift into neutral, and before long the runaway SUV sped into rural western Minnesota with no way to stop.
“I had the brakes all the way to the floor,” Dutcher said Thursday, but the SUV kept going faster and faster, eventually reaching a speed of 120 mph (193 km/h).
A last-ditch plan averted disaster that September evening: A soldier sped in front of the Honda and Dutcher was told to crash into the back of his patrol car so it could come to a safe stop just before reaching a dangerous intersection.
“That was really the only thing I could think of that could have stopped him in time,” said Minnesota Trooper Zach Gruver. ‘We just ran out of time and distance. I really don’t know any other way.”
Dutcher, who graduated high school in May and is studying automotive mechanics, was driving to his family home near West Fargo, North Dakota, on September 17 around 7:30 p.m. when he realized something was wrong.
“I wanted to take my foot off the accelerator,” Dutcher remembers. “It wouldn’t slow down.” As the SUV picked up speed, Dutcher had two options: stay on a two-lane road and drive into Minnesota, or get onto the freeway, thinking the freeway would be less busy.
Dutcher tried to call 911 using voice commands on his phone, but that didn’t work. So he called his mother.
Catherine Dutcher was in the drive-thru line at Hardee’s. In her 911 call, she said the Honda had just been in the shop because the accelerator pedal apparently seized up. Authorities suspect the SUV’s computer is malfunctioning.
The family should take the vehicle to a dealer for inspection, a Honda spokeswoman told The Associated Press. The company could not comment further until an inspection was conducted, she said.
As the Honda drove into Minnesota, Clay County Deputy Zach Johnson reached Dutcher by phone. Dash camera video shows Johnson talking Dutch about possible solutions. Nothing worked.
Meanwhile, Catherine Dutcher could only worry. When she called 911 for an update, she broke down.
“They said several officers went to him, as well as medical attention,” she recalled. ‘At that moment I lost it, because all I could imagine was him being seriously injured or dead. I didn’t know how they were supposed to stop a car at that speed.”
Gruver heard what was going on through his radio. His Dodge Charger eventually overtook the Honda as it approached the town of Hitterdal, Minnesota, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where the problem began.
Only about 200 people live in Hitterdal, but the highway passes through an area with a few stop signs, a railroad crossing and an intersection with another highway.
Gruver ran ahead to keep traffic at bay. His dashcam video showed the Honda speeding past him through the city. Dutcher said the SUV was traveling about 120 mph (193 km/h).
Soon another concern arose: Johnson alerted Gruver that the highway ended at a T-intersection about 4 miles away – a two-minute drive at racing speed.
The police immediately came up with a plan: the Dutchman had to ride in the back of Gruver’s police car while both vehicles were moving.
“Yes, run into the back of his car,” Johnson urged Dutcher in a conversation captured on dashcam video.
Honda’s 2022 crash mitigation system kicked in at the point of impact and helped soften the impact, Gruver said. The Honda was traveling approximately 50 miles per hour when it struck the trooper’s vehicle. From there, Gruver was able to gradually slow to a stop.
Gruver, a married 30-year-old expecting his first child, was impressed by the young driver who could drive a runaway vehicle at unimaginable speeds.
“Sam did great,” said Gruver, who has been a soldier for more than three years. “I don’t think there are many people who can handle that pressure.”