Alleged Wrong-Way DUI Driver Stopped Thanks To Public: CHP

NORTH BAY, CA — California Highway Patrol arrested a Napa woman with a prior DUI conviction after she allegedly drove the wrong way on U.S. Highway 101 in Sonoma County. CHP officers and Sonoma County sheriff's deputies were dispatched just after midnight Monday morning to multiple reports of a vehicle traveling north on southbound U.S. Highway 101 near Golf Course Drive near Rohnert Park, CHP Spokeswoman Kimberly Lemons said.

A sheriff's deputy stopped the vehicle as it exited at Todd Road and observed signs that the driver, later identified as 42-year-old Heike Kirchner, may be impaired, Lemons said.

CHP officers responded and conducted a DUI investigation which allegedly revealed Kirchner was under the influence of alcohol.

Kirchner was arrested on suspicion of DUI and a blood test was conducted, Lemons said.

"Thanks to the quick thinking of the public, Kirchner was stopped before she caused a traffic collision," Lemons said.

Anyone who witnessed the incident was asked to call CHP at 707-588-1400.

Photo by Renee Schiavone/Patch