Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
A driver heading the wrong way on Interstate 80 was arrested today after his car ran into an oncoming pickup.
Shortly after 4 a.m., a Nebraska State Patrol trooper spotted a 1997 Nissan Maxima heading west in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 near the Nebraska Highway 370 interchange. The patrol said the trooper tried unsuccessfully to get the driver’s attention by shining a spotlight and activating his emergency lights while driving parallel to the car in the westbound lane.
The trooper briefly crossed into the eastbound lane, the patrol said, but was unable to stop the driver. The trooper then returned to the westbound lane.
The driver, who still was headed west in the eastbound lane, eventually crashed into an eastbound pickup. He had driven about five miles the wrong way down the Interstate at speeds between 40 and 50 mph, the patrol said.
The driver, a 40-year-old Omaha man, was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, second offense, and was taken to the Sarpy County Jail.
The driver of the pickup, a 64-year-old Roswell, N.M., man, was uninjured. A female passenger in the pickup was taken to Midlands Hospital in Papillion as a precaution, the patrol said.
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
