Drunken Driver Drives Wrong Way On L.I.E., Gets Arrested: SCPD

DIX HILLS, NY — A man who drove the wrong way on the Long Island Expressway while drunk was arrested in Dix Hills on Sunday night, Suffolk police said.

Second Precinct police officer Weldon Drayton was in a marked police car driving westbound on the L.I.E. approaching Exit 51 when he saw a 2010 Mazda MZ6 driving toward the expressway from the wrong direction on the off-ramp at Exit 51 around 10:30 p.m., police said. Drayton stopped Jose Luis Mendoza, 34, of Huntington, as he entered the L.I.E. heading eastbound in the westbound lanes, police said. Luis Mendoza was determined to be drunk, police said.

Luis Mendoza was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. He was held overnight at the Second Precinct and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Monday.