200km/h police chase ends with wanted driver trying to hitchhike home

A 23-year-old driver in Cordoba turned a routine police stop into one of the more unusual escapes of the year. Local officers tried to pull him over on Avenida Azabache in the El Granadal area during the early hours of October 14 after spotting dangerous driving manoeuvres. He ignored the lights and sirens and accelerated away.

High-speed flight through Cordoba and onto the A-4

What followed was a chase that quickly left the city streets and joined the A-4 motorway. Speeds reportedly climbed above 200 km/h as the driver continued north. Officers from the Local Police kept up the pursuit while coordinating with the Guardia Civil. Previous high-speed pursuits in Andalucia, such as the 200km/h chase along the A-7 in Marbella and the Sevilla case that ended after a 200kph run, have shown how quickly these incidents can escalate on dual carriageways.

Spanish traffic law treats driving at this level of excess as a criminal offence against road safety under the Penal Code, which can carry prison time and a lengthy driving ban. Drivers caught at extreme speeds on the A-7 and other major routes in recent years have regularly faced court proceedings, as covered in earlier EWN reports on reckless motorway behaviour.

Crash, olive grove escape and hitchhiking attempt

The pursuit continued into the area of El Carpio. Near the entrance to an unpaved track the car overturned. Rather than remain with the wreck, the driver abandoned it and continued on foot through an olive grove. While the Guardia Civil took control of the crashed vehicle and surrounding area, Cordoba officers searched both the agricultural land and the surrounding area.

Members of the public then reported a man hitchhiking on the CO-3108 road. He was offering money to anyone prepared to drive him back into Cordoba city. Officers located and arrested him on the road. Checks confirmed he did not hold a driving licence. Local media including El Día de Cordoba and ABC Cordoba both described the sequence as a kind of “triathlon” of driving, running and hitchhiking.

Arrest and police response

Jesus Coca, the Cordoba Council’s security delegate, thanked the officers involved and highlighted the effective coordination with the Guardia Civil. Cases involving drivers without licences who flee police stops are not uncommon in the province; a 2021 Cordoba incident saw a young woman arrested after a short chase once it emerged she had never held a licence, as reported at the time by EWN.

Road safety has always been a persistent issue across Andalucia. The region regularly records high numbers of speed-related penalties, with the DGT deploying extensive camera coverage on routes including the A-4. Extreme excesses such as the one seen here illustrate why both Local Police and the Guardia Civil treat high-speed flights seriously, even when the final attempt to get home ends with a simple request for a lift.