A wrong-way driver nearly hit a New Hampshire State Trooper early Saturday morning in Concord.
Sgt. James Steinmetz of Troop D was driving northbound on Interstate 93 just south of Exit 13 at 1:30 a.m. when, police said, he encountered a wrong-way driver traveling southbound. Steinmetz swerved to avoid a head-on collision but crashed into the guardrails.
The other car, a 2014 Black Cadillac, pulled to the far right of the passing lane and stopped. The driver, Gregory Dumais, 28, of Hillsboro, was taken into custody on a charge of DWI. Dumais was brought to Merrimack County jail and released on $10,000 personal recognizance bail pending an Oct. 28 arraignment.
Steinmetz went to Concord Hospital and was later released for minor injuries.
This incident came just a week after another wrong-way crash killed five Vermont teenagers.
Steve Bourgoin, 33, of Williston, Vt., pleaded not guilty from his hospital bed Friday to five counts of murder after police said he drove his vehicle the opposite way on Interstate 89 in Williston and crashed into the teenagers’ car, which caught fire.
Police said after the initial crash, Bourgoin stole a police cruiser, sped away, and then turned the wrong way again on the highway and hit at least seven more vehicles.
Authorities are awaiting toxicology reports, but say there’s no evidence Bourgoin was under the influence at the time of the incident.
Last week, police also responded to a fatal crash in Henniker after a Keene man drove in excess of 100 mph along Route 9/202 before colliding with three other vehicles. The driver, 59-year-old Kevin Morong, was ejected and died at the scene.
On Tuesday, police chased a Salem man driving a reportedly stolen truck beginning on Interstate 93 in Manchester and continuing onto Interstate 89 until the truck finally came to a stop in Enfield. After crossing over numerous spike strips, Christopher Dwyer, 42, was on sparking rims and set several small brush fires, police said.
Police are asking anyone who has information or who witnessed the latest incident on Saturday morning to call Sgt. Steinmetz at 603-271-1162 or email him at Steinmetz@dos.nh.gov.
(Associated Press reports contributed to this story. Elodie Reed can be reached at 369-3306, ereed@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @elodie_reed.)