Wrong-Way Driver Charged With DWI In Sparta: Police

SPARTA, NJ — A man was charged with DWI after an officer spotted him driving northbound on Route 181 South, Sparta Police said.

John McGovern, 22, of Sparta, was also charged with careless driving, failure to keep right, not clearing snow or ice from his car, driving around with open containers of alcohol, driving an unregistered vehicle and not carrying his license with him, said Lt. John Lamon, Sparta Police spokesperson.

Lamon said at about midnight on Wednesday, the responding officer noticed McGovern’s car heading northbound on the southbound side of Route 181/Woodport Road.

After stopping McGovern in a parking lot, according to a news release from the department, the officer asked McGovern where he was headed, describing his reply as “incoherent.”

The officer then also noticed “two empty airplane size bottles of rum in the vehicle’s cupholders,” Lamon stated.

McGovern was taken to Newton Medical Center, Lamon said, after sobriety tests were performed; and now awaits a court appearance to respond to the charges.

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