Must See Video: Quick-Thinking Police Officer Stops Woman Driving In Wrong Direction Near 287 In Westchester
HARRISON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A close call in Westchester County was caught on camera -- a driver going the wrong way on a busy road.
A quick-thinking police officer stopped her just in time.
On Monday, CBS2's Valerie Castro spoke with the officer who saved the day.
A police dash camera caught the moment a white SUV drove the wrong direction toward I-287 near Harrison, where less than two weeks ago another wrong-way driver hit a car, killing a father and a 17-year-old boy.
MORE: Buzzer-Beating Shot Lifts Spirits Of Westchester Town Reeling From Deadly Car Crash
Over the weekend, another such accident was averted, barely.
"We just had a fatality here last week. Did you read the news?" Harrison Police Officer John Salov said after stopping a woman who somehow turned onto the road in the wrong direction.
Salov was working the day shift Sunday when he saw the white SUV headed directly at him.
"Is this real? is it really coming at me? So then you have to take that quick split-second decision to activate the emergency lights," Salov says on the dash cam video.
As his emergency lights went on, the driver threw her hands up, suddenly realizing what she'd done.
"She was going to go to Stamford, Conn., so she was going to take a left turn to get on to 287 East but she took a left turn too soon and came the wrong way," Salov said.
The officer added the driver explained she was using her GPS for directions when she got confused near Westchester Avenue and Kenilworth Road.
"I looked at it. It was in her cupholder and it was trying to redirect her," Salov said.
"See all of these cars coming off? We would have had a huge collision right there," Salov added.
Even though the driver made an innocent mistake and didn't travel more than 200 feet or so in the wrong direction, Officer Salov said he couldn't let her go with just warning.
The driver was issued a ticket for driving the wrong way down a one-way street.
"I don't want to take your license or anything like that, okay," Salov told the driver. "I just think you took a wrong turn, a left turn too early, okay. Just so happened by the grace of God I happened to see you."
His warning for others drivers is use GPS as a tool but don't rely on it.
And always pay attention to the road.
