Wrong-Way Driver Identified In San Diego Freeway Pursuit

SAN DIEGO — Authorities have identified the wrong-way driver accused of stealing a trailer and leading police on a dangerous freeway pursuit that shut down a stretch of Interstate 15 Tuesday morning in San Diego.

The incident began around 7:30 a.m. when officers received a report of a possible trailer theft in the 7500 block of Balboa Avenue, according to the San Diego Police Department. Officers found the vehicle near the reported location and contacted the driver, later identified as Panayiota Xirogiannis, 34, of San Diego.

Officers placed a stop stick behind one of the vehicle's rear tires, but the driver accelerated away, prompting a pursuit on northbound I-15, police said. At some point, the vehicle lost a rear tire and eventually became disabled in the middle lanes of the freeway.

After about an hour of unsuccessful negotiations, officers deployed pepper balls into the vehicle. Xirogiannis was able to move the vehicle again and pushed a patrol car back several yards, police said.

She exited the freeway at Miramar Way, where police said she nearly struck an 82-year-old man, before re-entering I-15 on the southbound lanes. Xirogiannis eventually did a U-turn on the freeway and began driving the wrong way against oncoming traffic.

"Due to the heightened danger of a collision, officers did not pursue the vehicle going the wrong way on the freeway," police said. "SDPD's police helicopter maintained visual of the suspect vehicle until it lost the trailer in the middle lanes of the I-15."

The vehicle later stalled between Carroll Canyon Road and Mira Mesa Boulevard, where Xirogiannis ran out of her vehicle with her dog and tried to carjack several vehicles before officers took her into custody, according to police.

Xirogiannis was taken to a hospital for evaluation and later released. She was booked into Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility in Santee on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, carjacking, felony evading, reckless driving, multiple counts of hit-and-run, driving the wrong way on a highway and vandalism.