Fair warning: this isn’t news. The Houston Hellcat chase happened a while back, and we’ve written about it more than once. But every time it comes up, the comment section turns into a fight, and it’s always over the same thing. So here it is one more time, with the part people can’t stand right in the headline.
A stolen Dodge Challenger Hellcat outran the police. Patrol cars, more agencies piling in, even the helicopter. It lost all of them.
Then the tank ran dry.
How the Houston Hellcat Chase Went Down
Houston police figured out that a white Hellcat was stolen and went after it. The driver was 25-year-old Mohmed Ahmed Abu-Shlieba. According to ABC 13, at one point he pulled a U-turn and blew right past officers who were waiting for him up ahead. That’s a bold move with a supercharged V8 under your right foot.
He got onto I-10, and more agencies joined the chase. None of them could close the gap. Traffic got heavier and he kept using the shoulder to get around slower cars. It was reckless and dangerous, and for a while it worked. It also wasn’t a huge surprise, since police pursuit vehicles aren’t built to keep up with serious performance cars.
Then came the part that set off years of arguments. On the news footage, the helicopter reporter says police have lost the car, and that includes the police chopper. At that point the news helicopter’s camera was the only thing still following the Hellcat.
The Cars Weren’t the Problem. The Fuel Was.
The chase ended two counties away. No spike strips, no PIT maneuver. The Hellcat just ran out of gas.
Anyone who has owned one won’t be shocked. A Hellcat driven flat out goes through fuel about as fast as it turns tires into smoke. You can run from the police in one. You just can’t run very far. He’s not the only one to learn that lesson, either: an Illinois pursuit of a stolen motorcycle ended the same way.
With the car out of fuel, Abu-Shlieba bailed and tried hiding in some trees by a pasture. A person hiding in the trees is about the easiest thing a thermal camera can find, so once the police helicopter caught up, the hiding didn’t last long.
What Happened to the Driver
Abu-Shlieba pleaded guilty to evading arrest and got three years in prison. So the “he got away” crowd and the “nobody gets away” crowd both get a point. He did get away from the police, until his gas ran out, and the ending was the same one these chases nearly always have.
Why This Story Keeps Coming Back
People have heard “you can’t outrun the radio” forever, and plenty of people believe it like it’s a law of physics. This chase breaks that rule, and it breaks it in a ridiculous way, and that bugs people. The police didn’t catch him. His gas tank did. It’s a lot like the Corvette that outran a trooper at 156 mph before the chase caught up with it anyway.
Obviously, don’t try this. A chase on a crowded interstate puts everyone around you at risk, and even if it goes your way, you end up in a three-year sentence. And with stolen Dodge muscle cars still showing up in police chases, we doubt this is the last one we’ll write about. It’s still a funny story, and we’ll probably end up writing it again.
Source: ABC 13 Houston