While trying to catch up to a Toyota RAV 4 that was clocked going 20 mph over the speed limit, a Florida Highway Patrol officer hit 142 mph on his speedometer.
A video captured the incident and was posted by the automotive website, Jalopnik.
The officer said he saw the speeding driver and made a U-turn over the center median to pursue them, climbing to speeds of over 140 mph, Fox News reported.
The video shows the officer pass cars on the shoulder at rates of speed near 130 mph.
On the video, the unnamed officer said, “Don’t try this at home, kids,” when he was traveling at about 119 mph.
Cop passes on shoulder at 130 mph, tells camera “don’t try this at home kids,” catches fire https://t.co/TYhTzhU7KE pic.twitter.com/9gQPJUSe8H
— Jalopnik (@Jalopnik) November 7, 2018
The officer told his partner, “I don’t recommend doing that—what I just did.”
The officer finally got the driver of the RAV4 to pull over on the center median.
However, the very dry grass that covered the median caught fire after being exposed to the underside of the police car that had an extremely hot engine from the top speed pursuit.
As the officer approached the driver he is heard saying, “It smells like smoke.”
Directly after that statement, a fire erupted in the grass and then the police car burst into flames.
The officer grabbed a fire extinguisher from his patrol car and tried to extinguish the flames, but he couldn’t get the device to work properly.
The officer let the speeding driver leave the scene as the fire was more of a priority as he watched the patrol car and everything in it burn.
Highway Patrol has not made any comments about the incident.
Thanks to dash-cam footage, a number of high-speed police chases have been captured on video and they always deliver precise accuracy.
There have been a few high-speed police chases in recent months in Florida that haven’t ended well.
In May, a high-speed chase in Brevard County between a stolen black Jaguar SUV and a sheriff’s deputy ended after speeds reached 100 mph, the Miami Herald reported.
Police were informed that the vehicle was used in an armed carjacking involving three armed suspects.
Once the sheriff came close to the suspect vehicle, he used his vehicle to ram into it until it came to a stop.
In June, another Florida police chase ended in gunfire when a suspect fired on a deputy, who in turn crashed into another police car, according to Inside Edition.
The officer was not hit but the bullet came very close.
The suspect was surrounded by police and arrested.
In August, South Florida police were involved a high-speed pursuit with a suspect wanted for assaulting a police officer, NBC 6 News reported.
The chase started in Hollywood and ended in Miami-Dade where the driver was taken into custody.
