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Police: Man arrested after driving drunk the wrong way on I-15

Posted at 3:53 PM, Jan 14, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-14 22:14:26-05

SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah — A man was arrested Saturday after police say he drove his vehicle the wrong way down I-15 while impaired.

An affidavit of probable cause released in 3rd District Court states that on Saturday at around 5:56 p.m., troopers were dispatched to calls of a reckless driver traveling the wrong way on an on-ramp on I-15 near the exit to I-215 southbound.

Troopers located the vehicle, and observed the driver enter I-15 northbound, traveling in the wrong direction, the affidavit said.

The driver, who was identified as Claudio Franceschi, 60, appeared to be intoxicated after he was stopped and contacted by police, according to investigators.

The affidavit said that upon completion of field sobriety tests, it was determined that Franceschi may have been impaired.

Police placed Franceschi under arrest, and located a partially consumed bottle of vodka in the driver’s door pocket, officials said.

Franceschi was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for one count of driving under the influence, a class-A misdemeanor, one count of wrong way on one-way street, driving over gore or island, failure to operate within a single lane and open container in a vehicle on a highway, a class-A misdemeanor.