WATCH: Cops heard he hit another car and sped away. They approached with guns drawn

Cops approached the red truck with guns drawn.

An off-duty officer had seen the truck’s driver strike another vehicle and continue south on U.S. Highway 17 Bypass “at a high rate of speed, driving reckless through traffic,” according to an incident report. The off-duty officer reported the hit-and-run and updated police with the driver’s location.

Horry County police initiated a traffic stop with the red truck at Tournament Boulevard near the Murrells Inlet Wal-Mart shortly after 5 p.m. on Nov. 14.

“Officer (John) Sotile was standing on the driver side of the suspect vehicle with the suspect at gunpoint,” Officer Crystal Buckingham noted in her report. “The suspect was ignoring Officer Sotile’s verbal commands to exit his vehicle.”

Buckingham approached with her gun drawn, too, “to get a better view of the suspect.”

“Once it was determined that his (the driver’s) hands were free and clear of any weapons,” Buckingham said she returned to the driver’s side to assist Sotile in getting the man out of the truck.

Police say the driver was intoxicated, “had a strong odor of alcohol coming from his breath and slurred speech,” but the man wasn’t exiting the vehicle.

The traffic stop was captured on a cellphone video last week, showing officers struggling to pull the driver from the front seat.

The first attempt “to remove the suspect was unsuccessful as he attempted to pull away and hold himself in the vehicle,” police noted in the report. “He continued to be passively resistant and stated ‘are you (expletive) serious?’”

The man was eventually pulled from the truck, handcuffed on the ground and detained until the South Carolina Highway Patrol arrived to investigate.

The Highway Patrol arrested 50-year-old Patrick John Gauthier and charged him with driving under the influence, failing to provide insurance, not having a driver’s license in his possession and failing to give information or render aid in a collision.

Gauthier was still being held Monday in the J. Reuben Long Detention Center under more than $1,600 bonds.

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 5:03 PM with the headline "WATCH: Cops heard he hit another car and sped away. They approached with guns drawn."