This wasn’t in a Hellcat but was something far more unexpected…
20-year-old Richard St. Leger or Pompano Beach, Florida has been arrested after leading authorities on a car chase that at points exceeded 178 mph. There aren’t many consumer vehicles which can hit 178 mph let alone sustain that kind of speed for long, so this story immediately grabbed out attention. And while we at first assumed the guy was driving a Hellcat, Camaro ZL1, Porsche 911, or something like that, our expectations were subverted.
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According to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, the agency which helped bring the dangerous pursuit to an end after St. Leger blasted through multiple counties, the man was behind the wheel of a Mercedes SUV. We don’t know what model, but considering those and other such European luxury vehicles are made for traveling on the Autobahn, it makes sense he could hit such breakneck speeds.
As you might imagine, going those kinds of speeds on the Florida turnpike and Interstate 95 meant several law enforcement agencies jumped in to put a stop to the chase. However, the methods they used failed. At one point, all police cars backed off from the fleeing Mercedes, which was still tracked from the air. That’s when a final plan to bring everything to an end was hatched.
Martin County Sheriff’s Office tried to do a traffic stop, but St. Leger just kept on going. What he didn’t know was 5 miles down the road deputies were lying in wait with stop sticks. St. Leger was going 150 mph and had switched the headlights on the SUV off, so he posed quite the risk to the public. Thankfully, deputies successfully deflated the Mercedes’ tires.
After playing GTA too many times, St. Leger jumped out of the luxury SUV and took off on foot. The man dodged into a wooded area, but a K9 unit and other deputies tracked him down. When the suspect refused to surrender, they loosed the dog on him, ending everything shortly.
Now St. Leger is facing a whole string of charges which include grand theft of a motor vehicle, fleeing with a disregard for safety, and obstruction. We think it’s safe to say St. Leger chose the wrong county to commit a crime.
