Wrong-way driver misses oncoming traffic on Loop 101 in Tempe
Sep 19, 2018, 6:19 AM | Updated: 10:24 am
(Flickr Photo/ADOT)
PHOENIX– A wrong-way driver startled other motorists on Loop 101 in Tempe early Wednesday, but managed to avoid striking any vehicles before exiting the freeway.
The driver, later identified as 21-year-old Nelson Sapata, had been heading into traffic on the freeway near Southern Avenue around 4:30 a.m.
Just as Arizona highway troopers caught up to the car near the Guadalupe Road exit, the driver managed to turn around safely but then didn’t initially stop for the trailing officers.
The Department of Public Safety troopers followed the driver to Baseline Road and Mill Avenue, where the driver was finally stopped and taken into custody.
Sapata was booked into jail on two counts of aggravated DUI, one count of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, one count of unlawful flight and three counts of endangerment.
No other details were immediately available.
NOW: WRONG-WAY VEHICLE spotted on Loop 101 and Southern. #abc15 pic.twitter.com/AyU1UiFzIC
— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) September 19, 2018