Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

State police stop wrong-way driver on I-40 in Albuquerque | Local News

A New Mexico State Police officer early Thursday stopped a suspected drunken driver who was traveling in the wrong lanes of Interstate 40 in Albuquerque near Juan Tabo.

Josh Greenling, 41, of Albuquerque was arrested and booked in the Metropolitan Detention Center on charges of aggravated DWI, driving on the wrong side of the road, reckless driving and refusing to stop for a police officer, state police said in a news release.

No one was injured in the incident.

According to the release, Officer Raymundo Lujan III saw the headlights of a pickup driving west toward him and other eastbound drivers around 1:30 am

He signaled for the wrong-way driver, later identified as Greenling, to pull over, but the Toyota continued traveling west.

Lujan decided to turn around and stop him, the news release said. In less than a minute, he performed a maneuver known as a pursuit intervention technique and forced the pickup onto the left shoulder of I-40, “bringing this potentially deadly encounter to a safe conclusion,” the release said.

Greenling admitted to drinking alcohol and taking oxycodone before getting behind the wheel and in a breath test registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.23, more than twice the legal limit for driving.

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