Officers Blow Out Truck’s Tires To Stop Drunk Wrong-Way Driver On LIE : Police

HOLBROOK, NY — A Queens man was drunk when he drove the wrong way and then bolted from officers trying to stop him on the Long Island Expressway, prompting them to set up stop sticks, in Holbrook Tuesday night, Suffolk police said.

Highway Patrol officers responded to a 911 report of a box truck swerving across the roadway as it
traveled eastbound in the westbound lanes of the LIE near Exit 48 at 9:55 p.m., according to police.

The truck, a 2017 Hino box truck, continued the wrong way for four exits before cutting across the center median near Exit 52, where it continued eastbound in the eastbound lanes, police said.

A Highway Patrol vehicle, with lights and siren activated, followed the truck as it swerved back and
forth across all lanes of traffic but did not stop, police said, adding that the truck finally came to a stop at Exit 62 after it rolled over stop sticks that had been set by other officers at around 10:20 p.m.

The driver, Nicolas Lopez Gomez, 30, of Elmhurst was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, third-degree fleeing an officer in a motor vehicle, and reckless driving, police said.

He was held overnight at the 6th Precinct in Selden and is scheduled to be arraigned today at First
District Court in Central Islip.