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A crash saved a teenager whose car suddenly sped up to 120 mph in the rural Midwest

This image taken from police dash camera footage provided by the Minnesota State Patrol, shows a Minnesota trooper passing 18-year-old Sam Dutcher after the Honda Pilot he was driving began to accelerate over 100 miles per hour in western Minnesota on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. The brakes and would not work and the vehicle would not shift into neutral. A trooper managed to speed in front of the Honda and told Sam by phone to crash into the rear of his squad car, allowing it to ease safely to a stop. (Minnesota State Patrol via AP)
This image taken from police dash camera footage provided by the Minnesota State Patrol, shows a Minnesota trooper passing 18-year-old Sam Dutcher after the Honda Pilot he was driving began to accelerate over 100 miles per hour in western Minnesota on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. The brakes and would not work and the vehicle would not shift into neutral. A trooper managed to speed in front of the Honda and told Sam by phone to crash into the rear of his squad car, allowing it to ease safely to a stop. (Minnesota State Patrol via AP) This image taken from police dash camera footage provided by the Minnesota State Patrol, shows a Minnesota trooper passing 18-year-old Sam Dutcher after the Honda Pilot he was driving began to accelerate over 100 miles per hour in western Minnesota on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. The brakes and would not work and the vehicle would not shift into neutral. A trooper managed to speed in front of the Honda and told Sam by phone to crash into the rear of his squad car, allowing it to ease safely to a stop. (Minnesota State Patrol via AP)

By JIM SALTER / Associated Press 4 min read

Sam Dutcher had just finished running errands when the 18-year-old’s Honda Pilot suddenly began to accelerate, even though his foot wasn’t on the gas pedal. The brake wouldn’t work, he couldn’t shift into neutral, and before long, the runaway SUV was speeding into the western Minnesota countryside with no way to stop.

“I had the brake to the floor,” Dutcher said Thursday, but the SUV kept going faster and faster, eventually reaching 120 mph (193 kpm).

A last-ditch plan averted disaster that September evening — a trooper sped in front of the Honda and Dutcher was told to crash into the rear of his squad car, allowing it to ease safely to a stop moments before reaching a dangerous intersection.

“That was really all I could think of that was going to get him stopped in time,” Minnesota Trooper Zach Gruver said. “We kind of just ran out of time and distance. I really didn’t know of any other way.”

Dutcher, who graduated high school in May and is studying auto mechanics, was driving to the family home near West Fargo, North Dakota, around 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 17 when he realized something was wrong.