Cops: DWI wrong-way driver in Riverhead
A map of Long Island that depicts a series of wrong-way driving incidents within the past two months. (Jan. 13, 2011) Credit: Newsday.com
A Riverhead man who drove the wrong way on Route 105 was stopped by police and arrested Wednesday morning on charges of driving while intoxicated and reckless driving, authorities said.
Jonas Alvarez, 39, of the 200 block of Horton Avenue, was stopped at about 6:17 a.m., police said.
Riverhead Town police said he was driving his 1992 Chevrolet south in the northbound lanes of Route 105 near Hubbard Avenue, according to a news release.
Alvarez, who was booked and held for arraignment, is at least the 17th person accused of being impaired and driving the wrong way, leading to an arrest, since mid-November, when police said a NYPD officer was killed after being hit head-on by a wrong-way drunken driver on the Northern State Parkway in Dix Hills.
Local and state officials have called for action.
Earlier this week, Department of Transportation Spokeswoman Eileen Peters said the agency has begun inspecting signs and markings at 450 highway entrance and exit ramps across Long Island to ensure traffic safety devices such as wrong way signs are in place.
