CHANDLER — The Arizona Department of Public Safety apprehended a wrong-way driver traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes of I-10 near Chandler Boulevard.
According to DPS, they responded to a call around 12:15 p.m. regarding a Chevrolet Silverado traveling the wrong way in the right shoulder.
A DPS trooper attempted to stop the wrong-way driver in the HOV lane, but the driver of the vehicle struck the DPS patrol car and kept going.
The wrong-way vehicle then drove around another patrol vehicle, a DPS spokesperson says.
The suspect then stopped his vehicle on the left emergency shoulder and ran across the gore, where DPS troopers were able to take him into custody.
DPS identified the suspect as 46-year-old Manuel Dejesus Castenada. He was booked into jail on charges of aggravated DUI, wrong-way driving, hit-and-run, unlawful flight, and aggravated assault.
There were no injuries to troopers or civilians, DPS says.
This is just one of several wrong-way incidents DPS and other agencies have had to respond to in the last several days.
On July 31, an allegedly impaired wrong-way driver collided head-on with a commercial vehicle as it traveled eastbound in the westbound lanes of I-10 near the junction in Casa Grande. The driver of the wrong-way vehicle showed signs of alcohol consumption and was taken to the hospital, according to DPS.
On July 31 in Glendale, the driver of a Chevrolet Malibu was reportedly traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of L-101 near Union Hills before it hit a Nissan sedan, killing 20-year-old Laiquan Lemon of Goodyear. The suspected wrong-way driver, identified only as a 22-year-old Phoenix woman, suffered non-life threatening injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital.
July 29, a wrong-way driver was arrested along near Indian School Road as she drove southbound in the northbound lanes. The 25-year-old driver was arrested for aggravated DUI and endangerment.
