1 October 2024
CLAY COUNTY, Minn. — An 18-year-old rural West Fargo teen is alive and sharing his story after a harrowing experience with his runaway, speeding vehicle that traveled more than 30 miles at speeds reaching 113 mph.
That runaway car sped through uncontrolled, busy intersections and small Minnesota towns as it became dark on Sept. 17.
18-year-old Sam Dutcher of rural West Fargo was near Harwood, North Dakota, when his Honda Pilot took off.
“I thought, ‘Hey, this thing is accelerating and my foot is not on the gas,’ ” Sam said.
The car kept going faster and faster. As Sam headed east out of Harwood on 90th Avenue into Clay County, Sam called his mom and 911.
“911, what is the address of your emergency?” Red River Regional Dispatch said to Sam’s mom.
Soon, deputies and the Minnesota State Patrol headed toward an area north of Moorhead.
Clay County Deputy Zach Johnson, racing across Clay County, got Sam on the phone as Sam approached busy U.S. Highway 75 north of Moorhead.
“If you hit the brakes, nothing happens?” Deputy Johnson asked Sam.
“Is the accelerator stuck down?” Deputy Johnson asked Sam.
Sam soon crossed busy Minnesota State Highway 9, going over 90 mph. He was trying everything.
“Are you able to push the e-brake and just lock ’em up?” Deputy Johnson asked.
Nothing worked. The vehicle’s computer had taken over. Sam couldn’t shut it off, get it in neutral; nothing.
“What do you have left for gas?” Deputy Johnson asked.
Plan A? Stop sticks.
“We are going to put some stop sticks out in front of you so the tires get popped,” Deputy Johnson told Sam.
But Sam was going too fast. There wasn’t time for stop sticks.
“We have officers from all over and medical all coming to him, OK?” a dispatcher told Sam’s distraught mom.
The Minnesota State Patrol and Clay County deputies were not only driving beside Sam at this time, they were on the phone with him.
Things got scarier as they approached the small Clay County town of Hitterdal.
Minnesota State Trooper Zach Gruver was trying to think of anything he could do to make the situation safer.
“That intersection on Highway 32 is uncontrolled north and south so, at that point, my plan was to get up there and get the intersection blocked so we didn’t have cars coming through when Sam was coming through at 113 mph,” Gruver said.
In a frightening split second, video shows Sam coming through the heart of Hitterdal at 113 mph. No train, no trucks coming from the north or south. But Sam said his hope of surviving started to dwindle.
“My mind started to go, ‘I am going to die tonight,’ ” Sam said.
Sam’s mother was at home fearing the worst.
“Early, honestly, I was like, ‘My kid is probably dead.’ I was like, ‘God, please don’t kill my kid, please don’t,’ ” said Catherine, Sam’s mother.
Finally, Trooper Gruver and Deputy Johnson decided now or never.
“It was Deputy Johnson who said, ‘This road ends in a T in three to four miles, so at that point, we knew we had to get this car stopped,” Gruver said.
With little time left before the dead end, Gruver sped in front of Sam’s vehicle.
“I was going 130 mph,” Gruver said. “The (squad) car tops out at 140.”
A deputy driving alongside Sam ordered him to crash into the squad car; it was their last hope.
“Yes, run into the back of his (the trooper’s) car,” Johnson ordered Sam.
Then, the sound of a horrible but life-saving crash.
It was over.
After 20 minutes of sheer terror, the car stopped and Sam was saved.
“It hit me then that this really just happened. At that point, I just started to freak out,” Sam said.
“When you are in the moment, the adrenaline is just pumping,” Gruver said.
Shortly after the scary road trip, Sam and his mom got to see Gruver.
A grateful family and a Minnesota State trooper with a calm demeanor and kick-butt car: a Dodge Charger.
“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,” Gruver said.
“There were a lot of factors in there where things could have gone very wrong very fast,” he said.
Sam is back at school; he’s a student at M-State in Moorhead studying auto mechanics.
It was an incredible week for Gruver. Expecting his first child, he helped save the life of a teenager in a runaway car.
“Right place, right time kind of thing,” he said.
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