DPS: Suspected impaired wrong-way driver stopped on I-17

PHOENIX (FOX 10) - A suspected impaired wrong-way driver was stopped early Wednesday morning on a Phoenix freeway.

According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, ADOT's wrong-way detection system alerted troopers to a Jeep going south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 17 near Yorkshire just before 2:30 a.m.

(Photo: AZDPS)

Video from an Uber driver dashcam captured the incident.

"You don't normally see headlights coming at you flashing at you like that," said the driver, who did not want to be identified, in a phone interview.

At first, the driver said he thought it could have been an emergency vehicle coming towards him.

"I did my gut reaction to pull over to the right and slow down immediately, and that's what saved my life," said the driver, who went on to say the ordeal has left him shaken.

"I pulled over and parked at Circle K and my hands were shaking," said the driver. "So bad I could barely call 911."

Troopers used their own patrol car to stop the vehicle on I-17 near Northern. DPS believes the driver of the Jeep, 49-year-old Abril Marquez, was impaired.

Abril Marquez

The latest incident came just one day after another wrong-way crash on the I-17 left four people seriously injured. Officials with Mothers Against Drunk Driving said impairment is now a major issue that needs to be addressed.

"We are not taking those steps to drive home the conversation that say impaired driving is not OK," said Helain Day.