A Longview police officer accused of hitting a fleeing suspect with an unmarked police SUV has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
A Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office incident report obtained through a records request shows the department investigated Longview Police Capt. Branden McNew in the summer after a witness alleged he intentionally struck a man on a scooter, who was fleeing police.
A woman who saw the arrest said McNew intentionally struck Guy Brent Gross, 40, with his unmarked Chevy Tahoe patrol vehicle on Aug. 20, while Gross was riding a motorized scooter near the Monticello Hotel and Washington Way.
The witness also alleged police used unnecessary force when arresting Gross, while the suspect claimed he was struck by two police vehicles.
However, the sheriff's office August 2025 incident report concludes there was no evidence that McNew or any other officer intentionally struck Gross, who was wanted for a misdemeanor drug charge, as he was fleeing police.
Instead, the report states it was Gross who struck McNew's vehicle.
Law enforcement also say they found drugs on Gross.
McNew declined to comment to The Daily News for this story. But his report was included in the sheriff's office records request.
Gross had a misdemeanor warrant for his arrest for possession of a controlled substance, according to a report written by McNew, who also knew Gross had a history of eluding police, escaping from a detention facility and being armed.
Court records also show Gross has been convicted of the felonies of theft, forgery and attempting to elude.
McNew wrote that at about 1:15 p.m. Aug. 20, he spotted Gross behind the Monticello Hotel after the apartment complex's manager called to report Gross, who she believed was wanted on a warrant and known to carry a gun.
McNew, who was in his full police uniform, called for cover after spotting Gross and waited for backup to arrive, but Gross began to drive away, possibly because he spotted McNew's vehicle, according to the report.
McNew wrote that he followed Gross from a distance and could hear the sirens of another patrol car, until a fully marked police SUV stopped on Washington Way, about 15 feet from Gross.
He said Gross turned around and drove back toward 18th Avenue, where McNew was located.
"I steered to the left, away from Gross, and then attempted to run parallel with him as we began to cross Washington Way. I estimate my speed to be 4-8 mph," he wrote.
At that moment, Gross was in McNew's blind spot on his passenger side, the officer wrote. He was still driving slowly "in hopes of blocking and/or slow Gross's ability to get away."
As he drove, McNew felt something hit the side of his Tahoe. Then he felt the patrol car run over the scooter, which caused his vehicle to jerk.
McNew said when he exited the Tahoe, Gross attempted to flee on foot but was taken down by officers.
The first witness told investigators in an email that she saw the incident from her home on 18th Avenue.
The sheriff's office report indicates she saw McNew choose "to use his car to stop the man on the scooter" rather than pursue the suspect on foot.
She also shared footage from a home security camera, which shows the collision.
A second witness, who saw the arrest in person and on her doorbell camera, also shared a home security recording that doesn't show the accident, but screams can be heard coming from beyond the view of the camera.
"It was clear he deliberately struck the man," the first witness wrote in an email to the sheriff's office.
As stated in the report, the first witness said she was horrified by the way officers treated Gross during his arrest. She said there was "a coordinated effort among the officers to push the narrative that Gross ran into Captain McNew's vehicle."
“I heard multiple officers say, 'he ran into the side of my vehicle,' and that became the narrative carried forward,” the first witness wrote in an email.
She told authorities she saw several officers pile on Gross, and described the cops as being "visibly amped up." She said officers were smiling while Gross was crying out in pain.
The deputy in the marked patrol vehicle wrote in his report that Gross spotted him in his patrol car, turned away and later collided with McNew's unmarked patrol vehicle.
The Daily News received the 33-second clip of home security footage of the crash through a records request.
The video shows Gross traveling south on the sidewalk of 18th Avenue with a black SUV behind him, reportedly driven by McNew.
Gross then turns left onto Washington Way, but the SUV continues through the stop sign, even though Gross was in the crosswalk, forcing Gross to change his direction.
At one point, both the unmarked SUV and the scooter are parallel to one another, until Gross falls to the ground and the scooter is run over.
Gross is heard screaming as he gets up, but several cops force him back down.
The sheriff's office incident report says Gross was riding directly up to the passenger side of McNew's unmarked Tahoe, then attempted to make a last-minute turn but collided with the Tahoe's passenger side.
Investigators collected the police body camera footage from four officers and read the police reports from them, the report continues, but found no evidence of wrongdoing.
The report also says officers found what they believed to be fentanyl and meth on Gross.
"They beat the sh**t out of me," Gross told the investigating deputy, according to the sheriff's office incident report.
He alleged the unmarked Tahoe struck him first, then a second marked patrol car struck him as well.
He was tased for about 20 to 30 seconds, he added.
The sheriff's office incident report states one officer used a taser for about five seconds. No other taser was seen by any law enforcement and none of the videos show any of the officers striking or kneeling on Gross, the report states.
Gross told officials his left shoulder, neck and hip hurt.
He told the investigator he lost two teeth because of the accident and was also feeling pain in the left side of his ribs.
However, the investigating deputy noted there were no obvious abrasions, lacerations or bruises on Gross.
