Wrong Way Driver: Manassas Woman Charged With DUI

MANASSAS, VA—Deputies with the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Manassas woman after they said they observed her traveling the wrong direction Wednesday on Warrenton Road.

Sonya Baccus, 38, has been charged with with DUI second offense in five years, failing to drive on the right side of the highway, no seat belt and open alcoholic container in a vehicle.

On Sept. 8 at approximately 3:33 a.m., Deputy D.A. Earp, Jr. was patrolling on Warrenton Road in the northbound lanes when a gold Chevrolet sedan passed him driving southbound in the northbound lanes of the divided highway. Fortunately, the vehicles did not collide, deputies said. Deputy Earp then took the next crossover to head southbound and try to locate the vehicle.

As Deputy Earp began heading south in the correct lanes, deputies said he witnessed the suspect vehicle turn from the northbound lanes into the southbound lanes at the intersection with Poplar Road. The vehicle pulled straight across the roadway entering the ditch.

Deputy Earp had his emergency lights activated, however deputies said Baccus continued to drive down the shoulder before pulling into the parking lot of Burton’s Automotive Services at 1443 Warrenton Road. The vehicle parked in a parking spot, but deputies said Baccus left the vehicle in reverse and nearly backed into the marked patrol car that was stopped behind it.

According to deputies, when Deputy Earp approached Baccus, she had glassy, bloodshot eyes and an odor of alcoholic beverage on her. The deputy also observed empty cans of alcoholic beverages in the vehicle. Field sobriety tests were administered and Baccus was arrested.

She was charged and held at the Rappahannock Regional Jail on a $3,000 bond.