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Arkansas police were looking for a Dodge Charger Hellcat that had been stolen out of Memphis, Tennessee and registered with a fake VIN, when an officer happened upon the muscle car. Sometimes, in situations like this, the person who ends up getting the vehicle has no idea it was stolen and is shocked when the police take it away. In this case, however, the driver seemed to be aware of it.
C7 Corvette driving down Florida highways.
We say that because when police try to pull over a Hellcat, as you can see in the accompanying dash cam footage, the suspect runs away. While the Hellcat is fast and many police officers would have trouble keeping up, the Arkansas State Police is one of the law enforcement agencies we won’t be testing.
Once the cruiser’s lights come on, the suspect becomes aggressive, like he already knows he’s in trouble. Sure enough, he quickly retreated, leaving the soldier behind.
In this case, radio might help to an extent, but any other soldiers jumping into the pursuit would need some way to stop Mopar. While the Hellcat’s speed poses some logistical challenges, the spikes might work.
But the same asset that works in the suspect’s favor – speed – is also his greatest liability. Trouble can happen quickly when you drive too fast on a road designed for slow speeds.
The suspect crashed after traveling across some railroad tracks at 160 mph. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the track and the raised pavement before the track caused the Dodge to fly into the air. You can see the Charger hit a utility pole behind the tracks and travel a few hundred feet or so before coming to a stop.
And that’s not the worst of it: The driver wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, so he became a free bird for a moment before slamming back to the ground. Somehow, he survived and was taken to the hospital, but once he got better, he went straight to jail.
Considering how quickly a Hellcat can catch fire, maybe it’s a good thing this guy flew out the window?
Image via LRHNCash/YouTube
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