---
title: "100-MPH Dodge Hellcat Police Chase Ends in Fiery Crash Outside Auto Museum"
description: "Hellcat: The Exhibit."
date: "2017-08-11"
modified: "2017-08-21"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/13430/100-mph-dodge-hellcat-police-chase-ends-in-fiery-crash-outside-auto-museum"
categories:
  - "Dodge News"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
tags:
  - "dodge"
  - "Dodge Challenger"
  - "Hellcat"
  - "Illinois"
  - "Museum"
  - "police chase"
---

# 100-MPH Dodge Hellcat Police Chase Ends in Fiery Crash Outside Auto Museum

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/08/fca_canada_90_years_4j9u4jdoii13ute2qphohmfakh6.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

As long as they've been making Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcats, [people have been crashing them.](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/11714/wrecked-dodge-challenger-hellcats-are-the-perfect-donor-cars>) It's a fact of life, really. And so it's almost poetic that a man fleeing police in a small town outside Chicago this week should wreck the Hellcat he bought just two weeks ago right in front of an auto museum. Sounds like a perfect monument to these crazy times.

[The *Chicago Tribune* reports](<https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/news/ct-lns-wauconda-chase-crash-st-0811-20170810-story.html>) that an officer spotted 22-year-old Dakota Eckmann driving his 2015 [Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/11892/the-2018-dodge-challenger-srt-hellcat-widebody-is-a-cheaper-dodge-demon>) at a high rate of speed and weaving in and out of traffic on Route 12 in Wauconda, Illinois. By the time the officer was able to turn around, Eckmann was already more than a half-mile down the road.

An off-duty officer was driving ahead of Eckmann and stated that the Hellcat passed him on the shoulder at about 100 mph, [Wauconda Police Chief David Wermes told the *Tribune.*](<https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/news/ct-lns-wauconda-chase-crash-st-0811-20170810-story.html>) He then exited the highway and sped down a rural road before [failing to navigate this turn](<https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3262259,-88.1728347,3a,88.8y,60.15h,79.75t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZJq1pMGtzFq9Lxb0N-DhrQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656>) in front of the Volo Auto Museum and crashing into a utility pole.

According to Wermes, officers arrived at the scene of the crash within a minute to find the Hellcat already beginning to burn. They pulled Eckmann out and were able to extinguish the flames before the car was totally destroyed. You can see [another good picture of the damage here;](<https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20170809/police-chase-ends-in-fiery-crash-outside-volo-auto-museum>) honestly, wouldn't that look great in a museum?

Police charged Eckmann with two felony counts of aggravated attempt to elude, plus reckless driving, passing on the shoulder, speeding, and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Wermes told the *Tribune* that they "believe he was smoking the pipe while he was driving," and confirmed his all too brief ownership of the Hellcat.

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)