Watch the moment Arizona DPS troopers stop a wrong-way driver on a Phoenix freeway
May 18, 2023, 1:00 PM
PHOENIX — A pair of Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers had to take matters into their own hands last week when they spotted a driver going the wrong way on a Phoenix freeway.
The troopers were completing a traffic stop May 11 at about 2 a.m. on northbound State Route 51 near Shea Boulevard when they witnessed a white Honda Civic driving southbound in the HOV lane.
They ditched the traffic stop and jumped into their cars to catch up to the wrong-way vehicle.
Eventually, the troopers reentered the freeway at Glendale Avenue and readied to stop the car.
One trooper’s car rammed the vehicle head-on, stopping it and bringing to an end a miles-long journey that could have ended differently.
The wrong-way vehicle’s driver, an 81-year-old woman, was taken to the hospital for injuries that weren’t life threatening.
Authorities said the woman was merely confused and that impairment wasn’t a factor.
The troopers were also taken to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
