A man arrested after driving with his wife on the hood of their minivan for more than 40 miles, hitting speeds of 100 mph, was high on meth, according to police.
The woman climbed onto the hood early on Saturday morning, outside the couple's home in Manteca, Calif., because she wanted to keep her husband from driving off, said the city's police spokesman, Rex Osborn.
But instead of stopping, Christopher Carroll, 36, sped away with his wife clinging to the hood, Osborn said.
Police said they would not identify the woman because she is the victim of domestic violence, but Osborn said she is in her 30s and a mother.
Carroll was being held without bail at the San Joaquin County Jail on charges of attempted murder, kidnapping and domestic assault.
The woman desperately gripped a windshield wiper blade, her body splayed across the hood of the minivan as it raced down a Northern California freeway in the middle of the night, witnesses said.
"She kind of goes with the van to try to stop him, gets up on the hood and is hanging on to the wiper blade," Osborn said. "She obviously didn't think he would keep driving."
With the temperature hovering in the low 30s, Carroll drove from Manteca to Pleasanton, prompting 911 calls from at least two alarmed witnesses.
Carroll sped through Manteca, got on the freeway and didn't pull over until he reached Pleasanton, Osborn said.
One witness followed Carroll most of the way and told police his speed reached 100 mph.
Eventually, Carroll slowed down the vehicle and his wife "was able to roll off," Osborn said. The driver following the vehicle took the woman to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for hypothermia.
Carroll was arrested back at his Manteca home, and charged with attempted murder and domestic violence, Osborn said.
No charges were filed tied to Carroll's methamphetamine use, which the woman described, he said.
"Her big message is this meth has ruined her life, affected her husband's family, his children, just because of poor choices," Osborn said.
The wild ride happened several days after Carroll was arrested for being under the influence of a controlled substance, Osborn said.
Police received a phone call Feb. 23 from a witness who reported that Carroll had climbed into a 6-foot-deep trash bin in Manteca and was threatening to drown himself in the 5 inches of water that had collected at the bottom, Osborn said.
"We went out there and talked to him for about an hour and he was obviously on some kind of drugs," Osborn said.