Dramatic body cam video shows the dangers of police work in Groton.

An officer is lucky to be alive after he was dragged for nearly a mile, hanging out of a car traveling at speeds close to 50 miles per hour.

This started last February when Officer Tyler DeAngelo, then on the force for two years, pulled over 22-year-old Taj Dickerson Route 1 in Groton for a broken tail light.

The officer smelled marijuana in the car and asked Dickerson to get out. He did so, also taking his Pit Bull out of the car and appearing to cooperate for several minutes. That’s when things took a very dramatic turn.

Brand new body cam footage shows Dickerson running back to his car with his pit bull in his arms. Officer DeAngelo chased after him, wrestling with him behind the wheel while Dickerson took off.

The officer was hanging out of the car.

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You can hear the tires screeching and the car zooming away in the body cam footage.

Police said Dickerson reached speeds of up to 50 miles an hour while dragging Ofc. DeAngelo.

The officer’s body was half in the car for nearly a mile.

He was screaming for his life, yelling “stop” at the top of his lungs repeatedly.

The video then shows the officer lose his grip and fall out of the car, slamming onto the pavement. You hear him breathing heavily and trying to catch his breath before sirens blare and the video ends.

Dickerson was eventually arrested in New London on a laundry list of charges.

Police said Ofc. DeAngelo was injured, but was able to make a full recovery.

Taj Dickerson was arrested and has since been convicted. He was sentenced to 5 years in jail (sentenced suspended after 400 days) followed by three years of probation.

The department says they wanted to release to video to show just how harrowing something as simple as a routine traffic stop can become.