PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Glendale woman is facing charges after investigators said she was drunk while she went the wrong way Sunday morning on a Phoenix freeway and is blaming technology for the mix-up.
Around 7 a.m., the Department of Public Safety said troopers were alerted that a driver, later identified as 30-year-old Ida Usanase Kamali, was heading north in the southbound lanes of Interstate 17 near Thunderbird Road at about 40 or 50 mph. She eventually stopped in the right lane just before the Greenway Road on-ramp, still facing the wrong way, court paperwork said.
Ida Usanase Kamali was booked into jail on an aggravated DUI/wrong-way driving felony and a misdemeanor of endangerment.(Arizona Department of Transportation/Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office)
As a trooper in a marked car approached, DPS said Kamali made a U-turn and started going south in the southbound lanes. She eventually pulled over behind a dark SUV that was already off to the right. Both had left side damage.
When asked why she pulled over, court paperwork said Kamali pointed to the car’s damage. DPS said she admitted to driving the wrong way, but blamed it on her GPS.
Court documents said she admitted to having three shots the night before and was coming from Scottsdale while trying to take her friend home.
Kamali said she made the U-turn when she realized she couldn’t go that way because she was driving the wrong way, DPS said.
Court paperwork said there was evidence she was drunk, and a breath test revealed her BAC was 0.103.
She was arrested and booked into jail on an aggravated DUI/wrong-way driving felony and a misdemeanor of endangerment. Her bond was set at $2,500.
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