NEWBURGH HEIGHTS, OHIO — It's something no driver wants to see —headlights coming at you from a car going the wrong way on the highway. It happened along I-77 South overnight. Thankfully, a Newburgh Heights officer jumped into action and is now being called a hero.
It all happened around 2 a.m. Thursday. ODOT cameras caught a car going North in the southbound lanes of I-77 for quite some time.
Officer Russ Veverka stopped the car around the Harvard exit. “Stay there! Don't move!” could be herd on the body cam video as he shouted to the driver and blocked the lane and the wrong-way car.
“What are you doing driving on this road? You're on the wrong way!” shouted the officer.
“I know it. I'm trying to get over to the other side of the road,” said the man behind the wheel.
The 65-year-old driver said he ran out of gas at some point and seemed confused.
“You been drinking tonight?” asked the officer.
“No,” said the driver.
“Don't lie to me,” said Veverka.
“I ain’t…honestly,” said the guy.
The driver also had a 4-year-old family member in the car, and police said there were no child restraints.
“If he would have went head on (into another car), there's no doubt in my mind that child would have died,” said Sgt. Rachel Halaska from Newburgh Police.
The driver said he thought he was on I-480.
“I was trying to get over to that crosswalk over there,” said the driver.
“There is no crosswalk,” said Veverka. “Where were you at? Where do you think we're at right now?”
“We're in Brook Park,” said the driver, but he wasn’t.
With speeding cars going by, Veverka was concerned for everyone's safety. So, with some help, he got the car pointed in the right direction. Then, a message from dispatch said the driver was a missing endangered adult out of Cleveland.
The police report stated the man was supposed to pick up his wife at work at 5 p.m. but never showed up.
“He's just been driving around, and she reported him as missing, and our officers happened to be in the right place at the right time and found him,” said Halaska.
No charges will be filed in this case.
The wife came to take her husband and the little boy home. The police report stated two weeks ago, she had to call police because her husband was driving and got lost somewhere far away.
The officer suggested she take him to a doctor to check for cognitive problems.
The Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging (WRAAA) said when it comes to possible cognitive issues, look for mood changes, being overwhelmed, and having a hard time doing normal daily tasks.
As far as driving and needing the adult to hand over the keys, they said to involve the primary care doctor and approach it with compassion and empathy.
“I’m not trying to take this away from you, but let's look at from the standpoint of you being safe. I want you to be safe, and I want other people on the road to be safe,” said Tanisha Hill, who’s a Clinical Manager with WRAAA. She also said there are local support groups that can help you as well through this process.
Meanwhile, Newburgh Police said the man will have to take another driver's test if he wants to continue driving.
