Wethersfield Man Deliberately Drives Wrong Way In East Hartford: CSP

EAST HARTFORD/WETHERSFIELD, CT — A Wethersfield man admitted to state police Wednesday night that he smoked pot and deliberately drove the wrong way on Route 15 in East Hartford.

Police even released dashcam footage of the incident.

Connecticut state police said Thursday that Joshua Halla, 26, of Wethersfield, was charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol/drugs; reckless driving; driving the wrong way on a highway; first-degree reckless endangerment; and criminal attempt at second-degree assault with a motor vehicle.

Halla was released on $50,000 bond and is slated to appear in Hartford Superior Court March 28.

State police said that on Wednesday, March 5, at about 8:30 p.m., state police at Troop H in Hartford were receiving 911 calls reporting a wrong-way driver on Route 5/15 in East Hartford.

"Troop H was able to confirm that a dark colored SUV entered the off-ramp the wrong way and began traveling southbound in the northbound lanes," wrote state police Thursday.

Troopers responded to the area and were able to locate the vehicle and successfully stopped it in the right shoulder of Route 5/15, police said.

The vehicle was not involved in any collision before being stopped.

Police said the driver was instructed out of the vehicle and was identified as Halla.

While on scene, Halla admitted to smoking marijuana before driving his vehicle, and stated he was "intentionally driving the wrong direction" for an unknown reason, police said.

As a result, police said Halla was placed under arrest and transported to Troop H for processing.

For more information, including dashcam footage of the stop on Route 5/15, click on this link.