Chase Alexander Eckhoff, 30, of Hickory, was sentenced to serve five to seven years in prison following his conviction for flee to elude arrest with a motor vehicle and admission of habitual felon status during Catawba County Superior Court on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
The Honorable Clifton H. Smith, Superior Court Judge from Catawba County, imposed terms of the active sentence after the defendant entered a guilty plea.
Eckhoff’s period of incarceration was enhanced by habitual felon status stemming from prior convictions for breaking/entering (April 2019 and April 2012) and flee to elude arrest with motor vehicle (September 2015), all in Catawba County.
The defendant will serve his period of incarceration in custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections.
Deputies from the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office initiated a traffic stop on December 11, 2024, after seeing erratic driving and weaving by the defendant.
Eckhoff asked to get cigarettes and his service dog from the vehicle. When he and a deputy approached the vehicle, the officer saw something he believed to contain a controlled substance. The defendant knocked it to the ground and when the deputy tried to detain Eckhoff, he got in the vehicle and sped away.
Deputies pursued him for about three minutes before ending the chase because of the defendant’s dangerous and reckless driving that exceeded a speed of more than 100 mph.
Warrants were taken out for his arrest based on a positive identification by the deputies, and Eckhoff later was taken into custody.
Daniel Ikerd and Ian Ruark handled the investigation for Hickory Police Department. Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Greer prosecuted the matter for the State with aid from Legal Assistant Stacey London.