‘Belltown Hellcat’ faces lawsuit from City of Seattle, citing noise violations
May 8, 2024, 6:51 PM | Updated: 6:52 pm
The Seattle skyline featuring the Space Needle. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
The City of Seattle is suing the infamous “Belltown Hellcat.” The city filed the lawsuit against 20-year-old influencer Miles Hudson on Tuesday, according to The Seattle Times.
Hudson is the driver of a tiger-striped Dodge Charger Hellcat that has been accused of tormenting Belltown residents for months due to its excessive speed and noise.
On April 10, Hudson was charged with reckless driving and was barred from driving his Hellcat, but was allowed to drive other cars. The Seattle Times reported that Hudson pled not guilty to the two counts of reckless driving.
Hudson has been accused of driving over 107 miles per hour through Belltown with a modified exhaust and engine. The sound his car makes is similar to gunfire, according to The Seattle Times.
Background: ‘Belltown Hellcat’ social media influencer barred from driving infamous car
The lawsuit alleges Hudson is creating “public nuisance noise” which is any unreasonable sound that annoys, injures, interferes with, or endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of an entire community or neighborhood, according to documents from the Municipal Court of the City of Seattle.
Seattle City Council member Bob Kettle claimed he had received over 100 complaints over Hudson’s driving.
“It has gotten so bad for people who live in the area, even those living 30 stories high have been calling police to complain about all the loud noise he’s been causing,” Ursula Reutin, host of “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, said. “His Instagram account with 600,000-plus followers features videos of him driving that souped-up car at night and early in the morning. You can’t do that.”
Ursula also noted the use of social media to promote Hudson’s alleged reckless driving.
“This is what I hate about social media because he has 600,000 followers, and he even said it. Even if people are hating the car, any publicity is good publicity,” Ursula said.
The Seattle Times reported that Hudson was required to fix his Hellcat so that it couldn’t be heard from more than 75 feet by April 15. However, he didn’t respond and has faced fines of up to $1,300 per day, every day since April 15.
Hudson has still continued to post videos on Instagram — one with an unknown woman driving the car with Hudson in the passenger seat. Hudson then gives the woman the key and she revs the engine, as stated by court documents.
“The video shows the Charger running several yellow or red lights in downtown Seattle, and the engine is heard revving throughout most of the video,” said court documents.
According to the court documents, Hudson’s mother purchased the 2023 Dodge Charger and is listed as the registered owner. The Seattle Times reports that Hudson’s mother is not involved in the lawsuit.
Contributing: Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest
Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email her here.
