ST. LOUIS (WHDH) – An alarming attack in Missouri was caught on camera. A police officer was tackled and pushed to the ground during a routine traffic. The suspect was eventually arrested after the fight.
The incident happened around 2 a.m. Wednesday when the officer noticed a car heading northbound driving more than 70 miles per hour.
“I thought it was a misread at first because I usually don’t get cars that fast, so I grabbed the handheld radar and I immediately turn my lights on and I spin around and catch up to him,” said the officer.
The red car, driven by 43-year-old Markarios Kirkwood, pulled over and stopped after it jumped a curb.
The officer said he believed the situation was a DWI.
The officer approached the car. He said he asked Kirkwood for his driver’s license and insurance. Kirkwood gave the officer one and started rumbling around looking for the other.
“I’m looking around still figuring out if he’s drunk or high. I smell marijuana, so I’m asking him questions right now,” said the officer.
A short time later the officer said he instructed Kirkwood to get out of the car for a sobriety test, and that’s when the unthinkable happened.
“Right here, I see the pocket knife and I tell him to keep his hands up and you see reach for his pockets and right there he went for it again,” he said.
“He was saying ‘I’m scared, I’m scared.’ Something of that sort, but he’s tensing up a whole lot. I just grabbed on and he makes me stumble backwards. He says ‘I don’t want to go to jail, I don’t want to go to jail,’ somewhere along those lines,” he added.
The officer eventually got Kirkwood into a headlock, but it didn’t slow him down.
“Right here is where he reached for my gun, I pushed his hand away with my left hand — the left hand is on the opposite side of the camera — and I had my hand on the gun, pushing it into the holster and he’s ripping at my hand,” he said.
The officer said he finally put Kirkwood into handcuffs and hit his emergency call for backup. The assault lasted about two and a half minutes, but the officer said it felt like a lifetime.
The suspect has been charged with assault and is being held on $50,000 bail.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)