Sedona AZ (November 30, 2018) – An Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) sergeant acted quickly and heroically by creating a traffic break moments before a wrong way driver collided head on with his patrol vehicle on Arizona Interstate 40 (I-40), likely saving the lives of other motorists.
The incident occurred on November 17, 2018, along I-40 near Flagstaff. Shortly after 3:30 in the afternoon, AZDPS began receiving calls reporting a reckless driver in a Nissan Rogue traveling on the sidewalk and nearly striking several vehicles along Milton Road in Flagstaff. A trooper located the vehicle on I-40 westbound near Flagstaff and initiated a traffic stop. The driver then fled the wrong way, traveling east within the westbound traffic lanes of I-40.
The AZDPS sergeant responding to the call entered the westbound lanes of I-40 and quickly began a traffic break to stop westbound traffic. Immediately after the vehicles came to a stop for the traffic break, the wrong way driver struck the sergeant’s stopped patrol vehicle head on. The sergeant’s swift actions prevented a high speed collision between the motorists and the wrong way vehicle.
The sergeant and the impaired wrong way driver were both injured. The wrong way driver’s two-year-old daughter was in the backseat of the vehicle and was not physically hurt. The sergeant was transported to the Flagstaff Medical Center where he was treated and released for minor injuries. The wrong way driver, Patricia Rose Carvalho, 32, of Los Ranchos, New Mexico, was admitted for non life-threatening injuries.
After being released from the hospital, Carvalho was booked on the following criminal charges:
• Attempted 2nd Degree Homicide
• Aggravated Assault
• Endangerment
• Aggravated DUI
• Child Abuse
Carvalho’s two-year-old daughter was placed in the custody of the Arizona Department of Child Services.
“The video taken by another motorist, whose life may have been saved by the actions of this heroic sergeant, tells the true story of what happened. Sadly, it’s a stark reminder of the risks that impaired drivers pose to the public and to our troopers, who selflessly put themselves in harm’s way to stop them,” said Col. Frank Milstead, Director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Watch the video recorded by the witness here: https://www.azdps.gov/sites/default/files/Wrong_Way_v3_No_Audio.mp4
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One brave cop. Best of the blue in uniform. To have this selfless act captured on film by someone he or she saved is unbelievable. I’ve been passed by a wrong way driver in South and you don’t realize it until they go by. Give this patrol officer a medal and a pay grade and a raise. Thank you from all drivers for your love of us. You did what most of us would never do, Save the life of a fellow human being if it meant sacrificing our own.