Feb 7, 2008 6:58 pm US/Central
Police: Alcohol Factor In Wrong Way Crash On I-394
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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Authorities said a driver was traveling down the wrong way on Eastbound I-394, eventually colliding with another car near the Penn Avenue exit.
CBS
Police said alcohol was a factor in a wrong way head-on crash that closed Interstate 394 late Wednesday night.
Authorities said a driver was traveling down the wrong way on Eastbound I-394, eventually colliding with another car near the Penn Avenue exit.
"I thought he's avoided cars this far maybe its not going to happen and then boom. You could see the smoke and smell the gasoline right away," said WCCO-TV Web Producer Karna Bergstrom, who was driving home from work at the time.
Eastbound I-394 was closed for several hours while rescuers worked to clear the scene. Some drivers who were stuck behind the accident had to turn around and drive to the nearest exit behind them.
The wrong-way driver had to be cut out of the wrecked car and was taken to the hospital, where he was reported to be in critical condition.
The driver of the car hit head on was also hospitalized with what the state patrol says are non life threatening injuries.
Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Mark Peterson said investigators smelled alcohol on the breath of the wrong way driver.
"Troopers when they were investigating detected alcohol on the breath of the driver traveling the wrong way and that's about as much as we can go at this point in time," he said.
Toxicology tests are being conducted.
"When you talk about impact at freeway speeds especially opposite direction, the fact that no one has perished at this point in time I think is very, very lucky," said Peterson.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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