Cops: Wrong-way parkway driver was high

A drug-impaired driver was arrested after State Police stopped him while he was driving the wrong way on the Sunken Meadow Parkway near Pulaski Road in Kings Park, police said.

The driver was stopped at 1:45 a.m. on Sunday, police said in an account released Tuesday. Troopers responding to a 911 call report of a wrong-way driver headed south in the northbound lanes of the Sunken Meadow arrested Walter Tortora, 35, of New Hyde Park, charging him with driving while ability-impaired by drugs, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and a number of traffic violations, police said.

Tortora was driving a gray Mini Cooper the wrong way on the parkway before troopers were able to stop him between Pulaski Road and Route 25. They said Tortora "admitted to smoking marijuana and taking Valium," police said.

Tortora also was found to be in possession of four Valium pills, police said.

Arraignment details were not immediately available.

The arrest comes at a time when officials are pushing for a crackdown of drug-impaired drivers on Long Island.