Police officer attacked during routine traffic stop

ST LOUIS, MO (WCMH) – What started as a traffic stop of a suspected DUI driver turned into a struggle for a police officer’s life.

It happened around 2am Wednesday in St. Louis County, Missouri, KTVI reported.

A Calverton Park police officer said he clocked a car going more than 70mph on a surface street.

“I thought it was a misread at first, because I usually don’t get cars that fast,” the officer said. “So I grabbed the handheld radar and I immediately turn my lights on and I spin around and catch up to him.”

The driver pulls over, jumping a curb in the process.

“At that point, I’m thinking DWI,” the officer said. “With the speed he was going and the way he stopped, I was thinking DWI the whole way through.”

After asking the driver, identified as 43-yer-old Markarios Kirkwood, to get out of the car, the officer said he noticed a knife in Kirkwood’s pocket.

“I see the pocket knife and I tell him [to] keep his hands up, you see him reach right for his pockets, and right there he went for it again,” he said, looking at the video.

The officer eventually got Kirkwood in handcuffs and called for backup.

Kirkwood is being held in jail on a $50,000 bond.

The officer suffered some small bruises on his hands and elbows.