By Police1 Staff
CLOQUET, Minn. — Dash cam footage captured a traffic stop that could have turned deadly.
A passenger in a vehicle pulled over by Fond du Lac police attempted to grab an officer’s firearm while the driver was being arrested, StarTribune reported.
The Dec. 11 incident occurred when officers were attempting to arrest an unruly driver. They stopped the vehicle after they noticed the headlights were off.
“The occupants of the vehicle were uncooperative, and the driver would not give any identifying information,” the chief wrote in a Facebook post. “Officers believed that the occupants were under the influence of some type of narcotic.”
The 19-year-old driver was armed with a knife and resisted arrest. When the 36-year-old passenger tugged on the officer’s firearm during the struggle, police also dragged him out of the vehicle.
Police said the passenger is lucky that officers did not respond with lethal force.
“Yeah, he’s very lucky,” reservation Officer Sheri Dupuis told the publication. “It just depends on the situation. As an officer, I would never Monday morning quarterback another officer.”
A woman who was also in the vehicle was armed with a BB gun. The two men remain in custody pending charges.
One officer injured his knee in the confrontation when he was pushed to the pavement by the driver. He is on leave for two weeks, Dupuis told the news site.