It was late on Sunday night when Trooper Paul Rawald received the call.
"A road ranger came to change a tire and noticed the driver showed signs of impairment," Rawald said. "The call came out [saying] that a child was also inside [of] the car."
Rawald said 30-year-old Dominic Thompson told the road ranger he was just tired and had worked a 19-hour shift.
"The road ranger--not being law enforcement--let him go, when he let them go, they began to follow them," Rawald said.
RELATED STORY: Trooper stops car after driver abandons child
The road ranger reported witnessing Thompson clip a barricade four times near the State Road 52 exit off of I-75.
"He's weaving in and out of lanes," Rawald said.
A few miles up the interstate, the trooper catches up with Thompson.
"He's driving on the shoulder of the road, maybe going five miles per hour," Rawald said.
As soon as Thompson stops the car, Rawald says he jumped out and started walking towards his cruiser, which he believed meant one thing.
"The first thing I thought when is this going to be a fight no question about it and in my mind is going to be a fight," Rawald said.
But before there could be a confrontation, Rawald noticed the car rolling forward towards a ditch.
"Your car's going, your car's moving!" you can hear Rawald yell on the dash cam video. As soon as those words leave his mouth, Rawald is seen running past Thompson, jumping in the car and putting it in park.
"When he jumped out of the car the first thing I'm thinking about is my safety when that car started rolling that's when I forgot about my safety and went to her safety," Rawald said.
As a father of three young children, Rawald is always on patrol with a family photo looking down on him from his driver side visor.
"At any point in time as I passed him, he could have easily ran behind me and grabbed me," Rawald said. "But the way that the car was angled and heading in that direction it's very likely that it could've rolled. I have children myself saving a child is the only thing I focused on."
As soon as the car finally stopped, Rawald said he looked back. The two-year-old was uninjured, asleep in the back seat the whole time.
Thompson was arrested on several charges including DUI and child neglect.
