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CHP stops wrong-way driver in Sacramento-area Highway 99 chase. Here’s how it ended

A California Highway Patrol officer rammed his patrol vehicle into a car heading the wrong way on Highway 99 during a pursuit late Thursday through south Sacramento.

About 10:40 p.m., CHP officers were informed that the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office was chasing a red Nissan Sentra on Florin Road near Tokay Avenue, the CHP South Sacramento Area Office announced Friday afternoon on Facebook.

Later, the sheriff’s patrol vehicles continued chasing the Nissan west on 47th Avenue toward Highway 99, before the Nissan entered the highway in the wrong direction, heading south in the northbound lanes, the CHP said. The sheriff’s vehicles then ended their pursuit.

A CHP officer in his patrol vehicle monitored radio traffic of the wrong-way Nissan and started a traffic break, slowing down northbound traffic behind him on Highway 99 from Mack Road.

The officer then spotted the Nissan still heading the wrong way as it approached Florin Road. The CHP said the Nissan driver exited onto Florin Road, and the sheriff’s vehicles once again chased the Nissan now heading the wrong way on surface streets.

The CHP officer feared the Nissan might enter Highway 99 again going the wrong way, so he waited in his patrol vehicle on the highway at Florin.

At 10:55 p.m., the Nissan entered Highway 99 from 47th Avenue in the wrong direction, again heading south in the northbound lanes, the CHP reported. The CHP officer started another traffic break, slowing moderate traffic behind him on the highway from Florin Road.

The officer then spotted the wrong-way Nissan just north of Florin. The CHP said the Nissan’s driver slowed the car and tried to drive around the CHP patrol vehicle and continue the wrong way on the highway.

Worried about the safety of the other drivers on Highway 99, the CHP officer rammed the front-end of his patrol vehicle into the right front side of the Nissan, stopping the wrong-way car, according to the CHP.

The Nissan’s driver ran north on the highway, the CHP said. A sheriff’s K-9 deputy, heading south in a patrol vehicle on Highway 99, stopped and sent his dog across the road.

The CHP said the dog bit the driver, and deputies and CHP officers took the driver into custody. The CHP did not release the name of the driver, who was arrested and booked at the Sacramento County Jail. No injuries were reported.

“This incident could of ended tragically,” CHP officials said in Friday’s Facebook post. “We are glad our officer was in the right place to stop this wrong-way vehicle before an innocent motorist was injured or killed.”