Driver going wrong way on I-35 crashes

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A couple of drivers police said were drunk and racing spurred an overnight chase, ending in a head-on crash with another car in North Austin after one of the racing drivers went the wrong way on I-35 near Braker Lane .

The incident began around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday after a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper noticed two cars driving erratically on I-35 at Rundberg Lane . Troopers arrested one driver, but the other one wouldn't stop.

The trooper said Primitivo Islas, 21, was driving the craziest of the two racing vehicles and tried tried to pull him over. Authorities said he drove off and fled the scene, triggering a police chase across Austin and sending him and an innocent bystander to the hospital with serious injuries.

DPS Trooper Robbie Barrera said the chase went from Rundberg Lane to William Cannon Drive . Islas reportedly exited William Cannon Drive, spun around and started speeding north in the southbound lane of I-35.

After Austin police received 911 calls from people reporting Islas driving up to 100 mph, they helped DPS in the chase, which had already tailed him for 14 miles. However, both DPS and the Austin Police Department called off the chase once Islas allegedly began driving in the wrong direction due to safety concerns for the public.

Austin police began closing on- and off-ramps along I-35 to try to cut down on traffic.

"We'll also try and go far enough back where we can turn our lights on just to warn drivers, try and get them to move over," said APD Cpl. Scott Perry. "It's a very dangerous, very precarious situation because it's very unpredictable what that person's going to do."

Islas reportedly hit a median and kept on going until he collided head-on with a woman in a Toyota at I-35 and Braker Lane , ending a dangerous 28-mile route up and down I-35 not far from where it started.

Officials closed all the southbound I-35 lanes just before 5 a.m. Wednesday. Though the lanes were closed for only about 15 minutes, it caused some major traffic backups.

All lanes have since reopened.

Police arrested Islas, who they said went to the hospital with serious injuries. Crews also transported the woman in the Toyota to University Medical Center Brackenridge with serious injuries.

Islas is charged with intoxicated assault with vehicle causing serious bodily injury, a third-degree felony.

Meanwhile, the driver of the second vehicle who did not flee the initial scene is charged with a DWI.