A Carroll County District Court judge handed down a five-year prison sentence yesterday (Thursday) against an Illinois man accused of seriously injuring a Carroll police officer during a traffic stop over two years ago. Twenty-nine-year-old Dennis James Guider Jr. of Chicago Heights, Ill. pled guilty in March to serious injury by vehicle, a class D felony, and a second charge of felony eluding was dismissed by the courts as part of the plea agreement with prosecutors. The charges against Guider stem from a March 5, 2021 incident in the 1800 block of Kittyhawk Avenue. Guider refused to comply with officers’ commands to exit a vehicle during a traffic stop and attempted to flee in the car. As he fled, the officer ended up on the hood of the suspect’s car. Authorities say Guider reached speeds up to 60 mph with the officer still on the hood before striking a culvert and throwing the officer from the vehicle, resulting in serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Guider was extradited to Carroll County from the Illinois Department of Corrections earlier this year and will be returned to Illinois to complete an unrelated sentence. He is expected to be discharged from that term on April 2 of next year. Guider will be returned to the Iowa Department of Corrections following that date for completion of his Iowa sentence.
