Cops: Wrong-way driver charged with DWI

A Patchogue man faces a drunken driving charge after a state trooper stopped him Sunday morning driving the wrong way on the Southern State Parkway in East Islip, police said.

At about 7 a.m., Trooper Joseph Kolm was dispatched to the parkway after police received a report of a wrong-way driver. According to police, a vehicle was driving westbound in the eastbound lanes of the Southern State Parkway near Montauk Highway.

Kolm found the vehicle traveling the wrong way at about 10 mph in the left lane of the eastbound parkway. The trooper, who was driving eastbound, pulled up in front of the driver, and the vehicle stopped without incident, police said.

The driver, Omar Gonzalez, 26, was found to be intoxicated after field sobriety tests, police said, and refused a breath-analyzer test.

Gonzalez is charged with driving while intoxicated and operating a vehicle without a license.

He is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip.