Woman drives wrong way on Loop 202 in Phoenix, charged with extreme DUI

PHOENIX — A woman suspected of driving impaired the wrong way on Phoenix freeway early Wednesday was arrested on a city street, authorities said.

Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Kameron Lee said in an email that the woman had been driving west on Loop 202 East.

Yvonne Christina Cruz, 23, managed not to hit any other cars.

Dispatch received the first of several calls about a silver sedan going in the opposite direction around 1:30 a.m. before exiting the state highway.

A trooper and a helicopter belonging to Phoenix Police tracked the woman to Third and Oak streets.

The unidentified driver was charged with extreme DUI and three counts of endangerment.

Less than a month ago, four people were injured when a wrong-way driver on Loop 202 in Mesa smashed into another car.

He hit the car after speeding away from an off-duty officer who had spotted him driving in the median.

“… (The) thing that’s absolutely staggering is the average blood alcohol concentration of someone we arrest for driving the wrong way on a highway is a .189,” Col. Frank Milstead, director of the state troopers, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Bruce St. James and Pamela Hughes in February.

The legal limit for blood-alcohol content is 0.08 percent in all 50 states.

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