A Utah Highway Patrol trooper was dispatched to far northern Summit County April 29 after a report that a wrong-way driver had crashed.
UHP Lt. Cameron Roden says the car was located about 4 p.m. near mile marker 187 on Interstate 80, near the Wyoming border. The arresting trooper says he saw the vehicle traveling on the wrong side of the highway crash again into its center barrier.
Although details of the first crash are unclear, Roden says no other cars were involved in either incident.
Once he was pulled over, the driver allegedly failed one field sobriety test and refused to comply with another.
The trooper claims the man told him “about how drunk he was and to just haul him away.” Arrest records say the highway patrolman seized a loaded .45 caliber pistol and loaded rifle from the man’s car.
The 42-year-old driver was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and gun charges.
Before being booked into jail, the driver was taken to Park City Hospital, where his blood was drawn as evidence. He was later released on the conditions he obey any court summons and not go to a bar or consume alcohol.
The man hadn’t been charged with a crime as of May 6. Previous state court records indicate he may be from Clinton, Utah.
