State police catch up with wrong-way driver in Waterbury
May 28, 2024 | By Waterbury RoundaboutA midday wrong-way vehicle on Interstate 89 touched off a flurry of calls to 911 on Sunday with Vermont State Police eventually catching up with the driver in Waterbury.
According to Trooper Nathaniel Quealy from the Williston barracks, around 12:45 p.m. the state police in Williston began receiving multiple calls about a vehicle driving erratically on I-89 southbound near mile marker 72 in Richmond. Then the messages from concerned motorists changed. “Almost immediately thereafter, callers began advising that the vehicle had changed direction and was driving the wrong way, northbound in the southbound lanes of travel,” Quealy wrote in a news release about the incident.
Responding troopers then were notified that the vehicle eventually corrected itself and resumed traveling southbound in the correct lane at speeds in excess of 90 mph, the account continues.
A short time later, the vehicle and its driver were located in the parking lot of Crossroads Beverage & Deli in Waterbury, according to the release.
Trooper Quealy said the state police have a witness to thank for the tip. “One of the original witnesses who saw the vehicle driving the wrong way on I-89 followed her to the gas station and subsequently updated VSP,” he said in an email to Waterbury Roundabout.
Police said the driver was Ericka Clark, 51, of Barre. Clark was arrested for suspicion of DUI and taken to the Williston barracks. She was issued a citation to appear in Chittenden County Superior Court on June 13 to answer to the charges of DUI first offense and Grossly Negligent Operation, police said.