SALEM — New Hampshire State Troopers arrested two separate wrong-way drivers in less than three hours, officials reported Sunday.
On Saturday, at approximately 11:45 p.m., the State Police received reports of a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction on Interstate 93 in Salem, heading northbound in the southbound lanes near the area of Exit 1.
Additional callers provided updates to dispatch, indicating the vehicle was still traveling in the wrong direction.
Trooper Madelynn Davis was able to stop the vehicle in the left-hand lane just north of the Exit 2 off-ramp and identified the wrong-way driver as Julio Florentino, 68, of Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Florentino was arrested on charges of Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated and Reckless Conduct – Deadly Weapon.
Florentino’s breath alcohol content (BAC) was found to be more than double the legal limit at the time of his arrest.
Early the next morning, at approximately 2:30 a.m., Troopers received a call reporting another wrong-way driver who was traveling northbound in the southbound lanes in the area of Exit 5 in Londonderry.
Additional callers then reported the vehicle had gone off the road near mile marker 16 after nearly colliding with another vehicle.
Trooper Tyler Duhamel located the vehicle in the median of the highway and determined the driver, identified as Alexis Rodriguez, 26, of Loudon, was impaired.
Rodriguez was subsequently arrested on charges of Driving While Intoxicated and Reckless Conduct – Deadly Weapon.
Both Florentino and Rodriguez are scheduled to appear in court in September.
