Police have charged a man that fled from officers in a 100 mile per hour chase that ended after the suspect crashed his car into a pole and it caught on fire in Volo.
At around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday morning a Wauconda police officer spotted a red Dodge Challenger driving northbound on Route 12 in Wauconda at 84 miles per hour, according to Wauconda Police Chief David Wermes. Wermes said that the driver sped up to about 100 miles per hour when the police began to pursue the car.
The incident ended in front of the Volo Auto Museum at 27582 Volo Village Road in Volo near Fox Lake Road and Volo Village Road.
The Wauconda Police Department said that the suspect vehicle ended up hitting a utility pole as it was turning onto Volo Village Road from Fox Lake Road while fleeing from police units.
The car had heavy damage and caught fire. According to radio traffic from the incident, Wauconda police helped the suspect out of the vehicle just before it caught fire prior to firefighters arriving on the scene.
The Wauconda Fire District responded to the scene and extinguished the car fire.
The driver, 22-year-old Dakota Eckmann, suffered non-life threatening injuries and was transported by paramedics to a local hospital.
Eckmann has since been charged with aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude officers, speeding, reckless driving, and possession of drug paraphernalia, Wauconda Police Chief David Wermes said.
Eckmann is currently being held at the Wauconda Police Department.
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