Valley wrong-way driver stopped on I-17 frontage road

PHOENIX — Another Phoenix-area wrong-way driver was stopped Thursday morning on an Interstate 17 frontage road.

Officers pulled the driver over near Indian School Road around 5:45 a.m., but he did not listen to commands and struggled with officers, according to Phoenix police.

Police said officers used “less-lethal tools” to take the driver into custody.

He is suspected of driving impaired and may be charged with resisting arrest, police said.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety arrested a wrong-way driver in the Valley on Wednesday and another early Tuesday.

The agency arrested a second driver Wednesday that was reported to be driving the wrong way, but a spokesman later said the driver was backing up near the “slow lane” on I-10 to help his son who had broken down. The driver was arrested on suspicion of DUI.

There were 1,175 wrong-ways in the state from Jan. 1 to Aug. 12, according to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

Last year during the same period, there were 1,057 incidents.

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