Officer Drove Into Wrong-Way DUI Driver To Stop Him: St. Pete Police

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — An officer took extreme measures Monday to stop a wrong-way driver suspected of driving under the influence, the St. Petersburg Police Department said in a news release.

Just before noon, Sgt. Michael Schade spotted a car driving the wrong way on 1st Avenue South at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street intersection.

When he was unsuccessful in stopping the driver, he got behind the car and put on his lights and sirens, but the driver continued.

With three lanes of oncoming traffic, Schade decided to hit the car and force it off the road in the 2400 block of 1st Avenue S., police said.

“Thanks to Sgt. Schade’s quick action, no one was injured,” the department said.

Shawn Schmidhuber, 49, was arrested and charged with DUI and two counts of fleeing and eluding a police officer.