Police stopped two vehicles going the wrong way in two separate incidents Tuesday night.
The first one happened at 10:16 p.m. when FHP Corporal Doug Guy was on patrol. He saw a 1999 Honda 4-door going northbound in the southbound lanes of Dale Mabry Highway under Interstate 275. He pulled the car over and arrested the driver, 45-year-old Steven Glenn Ballard of Palm Harbor, for DUI and cited him for driving the wrong way. He was transported to the Hillsborough County Jail and refused a breath test.
The second incident occurred at 11:21 p.m., when the Florida Highway Patrol was alerted to a wrong-way driver going southbound in the northbound lanes of Interstate 275 just south of Flower Avenue in the inside lane.
An officer was going north and pulled over a 2011 BMW 4-door. He pulled over the BMW without incident but just before doing so, two cars collided in effort to avoid the wrong-way driver.
While the BMW did not collide with the other two vehicles, a 2003 Volkswagen 4-door traveling in the inside lane had merged into the center lane occupied by a 2013 Nissan 4-door to avoid a crash. Alayna Hernandez, 18 of Lutz, and Maxine Simmons, 33 of Tampa, drivers of the Volkswagen and Nissan respectively, were both transported to Florida Hospital with minor injuries.
David Paul McGinnis, 35 of Tampa, was cited for traveling in the wrong direction. McGinnis was not impaired, rather he stated he mistakenly turned onto the wrong ramp and entered the Interstate at Fowler Avenue traveling in the wrong direction.
