Traffic Stop Turns Into 100 MPH Chase Before K-9 Rico Tracks Down Fleeing Driver

A Routine Midnight Stop Was About to Become Something Much Bigger

It began with the kind of traffic stop that happens thousands of times across America every night.

Shortly after midnight on February 3, 2024, a Columbia County Sheriff's Office deputy stopped a vehicle on State Highway 16 near Durborg Road in the Columbus area of Wisconsin. According to authorities, the original reason for the stop was an equipment violation.

Nothing about that alone suggested what would happen next.

But the encounter quickly became more complicated.

Authorities said the driver, later identified by news reports as 40-year-old Matthew McGinnis of Waterford, was uncooperative during the stop. A police K-9 was brought into the investigation, and K-9 Rico alerted officers to the presence of narcotics around the vehicle.

Deputies subsequently deployed a tire-deflation device.

At that moment, the encounter could still have ended on the shoulder of Highway 16.

Instead, police said McGinnis drove away.

What followed was a pursuit reaching speeds of more than 100 mph, a damaged tire, a crash, an attempted escape on foot and ultimately the deployment of the same police dog that had helped escalate officers' suspicions during the original stop.

The body-camera footage makes the incident especially compelling because the viewer sees the situation evolve almost in real time. There is no immediate indication at the beginning that a comparatively ordinary traffic investigation will become a dangerous nighttime pursuit.

That uncertainty is precisely what gives the footage its tension.

K-9 Rico Detects Something During the Stop

K-9 Rico was not simply a patrol dog who happened to be present that night.

According to the official Columbia County Sheriff's Office K-9 Unit page, Rico is a Belgian Malinois born in the Netherlands on February 4, 2019. He was partnered with Deputy Robin Messer in July 2021.

Rico is described as a dual-purpose police K-9 trained in several disciplines, including narcotics detection, tracking, locating evidence and articles, handler protection and criminal apprehension. Columbia County says its K-9 teams undergo monthly training and are certified through the American Police Canine Association.

Those abilities would become important at two very different stages of the February 3 incident.

The first came during the traffic stop.

According to reporting based on information released by the sheriff's office, Rico alerted to the vehicle for the odor of narcotics. Deputies then deployed a tire-deflation device because of the driver's lack of cooperation.

But McGinnis allegedly chose to flee anyway.

Driving on a damaged tire did not immediately bring the vehicle to a halt.

Instead, authorities said the pursuit accelerated beyond 100 mph.

The chase moved west on State Highway 60 before turning south onto Schaefer Road and entering Dane County. At highway speeds, every additional mile increased the danger not only for the fleeing driver and pursuing deputies but also for anyone else who might have been traveling on those roads.

Police pursuits create a uniquely difficult situation for officers. They must continually weigh the need to apprehend a fleeing suspect against the danger created by continuing the chase.

In this case, the damaged tire eventually began working against the fleeing driver.

FOX6 reported that McGinnis ultimately lost control while attempting to negotiate a turn.

The vehicle was finally stopped.

The suspect, however, allegedly was not.

The Chase Moves From the Road to a Field

According to authorities, McGinnis got out and fled on foot into a field.

For deputies, the nature of the incident had suddenly changed again.

Seconds earlier, they were following a vehicle traveling at extreme speed. Now they were searching dark rural terrain for a person who had allegedly refused to surrender.

That is exactly the type of environment in which a trained tracking and apprehension dog can dramatically change the dynamics of a search.

Police said McGinnis failed to stop when ordered.

K-9 Rico was deployed.

Authorities reported that Rico apprehended him, allowing officers to take McGinnis into custody.

The body-camera sequence gives viewers a much clearer sense of why police K-9 units train for multiple jobs. Rico's role did not end after the narcotics sniff at the vehicle. The same dog could transition from detection work to locating and apprehending a fleeing suspect.

The Sheriff's Office describes Rico specifically as being trained for both drug detection and criminal apprehension, in addition to tracking and evidence searches.

That combination of capabilities is almost a perfect match for the sequence of events deputies faced that night.

What Deputies Reportedly Found After the Arrest

 

 

Once McGinnis was in custody, the incident moved into its final phase.

Authorities said he showed signs of impairment. Investigators also learned that he was on probation and subject to an absolute-sobriety condition.

But the search of the vehicle produced another significant development.

Reports initially described deputies recovering more than three pounds of marijuana. Another report citing the Sheriff's Office put the quantity at approximately three and a half pounds of packaged marijuana, along with additional drug paraphernalia.

FOX6 reported that McGinnis was jailed with several pending allegations, including fleeing/eluding an officer, resisting or obstructing, operating while intoxicated, possession with intent to distribute THC, possession of drug paraphernalia and a probation violation. Authorities also issued several traffic citations.

It is important to distinguish allegations at the time of arrest from a final court disposition. An arrest or charging recommendation does not itself establish guilt.

Later publicly available footage coverage describes a narrower eventual outcome: McGinnis pleaded no contest to fleeing/eluding and THC possession, with other charges dismissed, and was reportedly sentenced to 90 days in jail with work-release privileges plus two years of probation.

That later information adds important context because the viral footage naturally focuses on the most dramatic few minutes: the pursuit, crash, foot chase and K-9 apprehension.

The legal process is considerably less cinematic.

Why This Incident Became So Dramatic So Quickly

One of the most striking aspects of the case is the chain reaction.

An equipment violation leads to a traffic stop.

The driver's behavior causes additional concern.

A trained police dog alerts on the vehicle.

Deputies deploy a tire-deflation device.

The driver allegedly flees.

Speeds exceed 100 mph.

The vehicle eventually leaves the roadway.

The driver runs into a field.

A police K-9 is deployed.

Then, after the arrest, deputies discover a substantial amount of marijuana.

Each decision changes the next decision.

That is why footage like this can be misleading when viewed only as a short viral clip. The final K-9 apprehension is dramatic, but understanding what happened requires going back to the beginning.

The chase did not begin as a high-speed pursuit.

It began as an equipment-related traffic stop.

And Rico's involvement did not begin with the apprehension.

It began with narcotics detection.

That chronology is important.

K-9 Rico's Role Shows Why Police Dogs Are Trained for Multiple Tasks

The Columbia County Sheriff's Office says its K-9 program uses dogs for drug detection, tracking, article searches, handler protection, criminal apprehension, building searches and area searches.

The department's broader statistics demonstrate that K-9 deployments are not rare events.

According to Columbia County's 2024 Annual Report, its K-9 units conducted 785 free-air vehicle sniffs, producing 342 positive indications. The units also conducted tracks and building searches and assisted with seizures involving cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine and THC.

Those numbers provide useful perspective.

A viral video may show one dramatic deployment, but a police dog's day-to-day role is broader. Detection and tracking can sometimes prevent officers from having to conduct lengthy searches manually, while apprehension training gives handlers another option when a fleeing suspect refuses commands.

In the McGinnis incident, those different capabilities converged in a single encounter.

Rico first helped deputies investigate the vehicle.

Later, when the driver allegedly abandoned the vehicle and fled into a field, Rico became part of the apprehension.

A Midnight Traffic Stop That Ended Far From Where It Started

By the time the situation was over, very little remained of the routine traffic stop that had started the encounter.

A vehicle had traveled at more than 100 mph despite a damaged tire. The pursuit had crossed into another county. The driver had lost control, abandoned the vehicle and attempted to continue escaping on foot.

Then K-9 Rico ended the flight.

What makes the footage memorable is not simply the moment the dog reaches the suspect. It is the escalation that precedes it.

At virtually every stage, the situation could have ended.

The vehicle initially stopped.

The driver could have remained there.

After the tire-deflation device was deployed, the driver could have surrendered.

After losing control of the vehicle, he could have remained at the scene.

Instead, according to authorities, the attempt to escape continued until officers deployed Rico.

The incident also provides a clear illustration of how rapidly a nighttime traffic stop can change for law enforcement. Deputies went from roadside investigation to high-speed pursuit to a rural foot search within minutes.

And throughout those transitions, information gathered during one stage influenced what happened next.

Rico's narcotics alert helped shape the roadside investigation.

The driver's alleged decision to flee triggered the pursuit.

The crash transformed the vehicle chase into a foot pursuit.

The refusal to surrender led to Rico's deployment.

Finally, the vehicle search provided evidence that became part of the criminal case.

Viewed as a complete sequence rather than an isolated K-9 clip, the incident becomes a story about escalation and consequences.

One decision led directly to another until a minor equipment stop had become a multi-county police pursuit.

And standing at the center of two crucial moments was K-9 Rico, the Belgian Malinois trained both to detect narcotics and apprehend fleeing suspects.

WATCH WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

The written account explains the sequence, but the body-camera footage captures details that words cannot fully reproduce: the darkness of the roadway, the speed of the pursuit, officers' commands and the moment Rico is deployed after the suspect runs from the crashed vehicle.

Want to see how a routine traffic stop escalated into a 100+ MPH pursuit and ended with K-9 Rico in action? Watch the full footage below and see the entire encounter unfold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw0uY7RrP7E