Wrong-way driver faces charges of drunken driving

12/8/2013

A female Toledo driver who collided with a vehicle while she was traveling the wrong way on the Anthony Wayne Trail near Michigan Street faces charges of drunken driving and driving in the wrong lane of a divided highway, Maumee police said Sunday.

None of the five occupants in the two vehicles were injured in the crash, reported at 10:45 p.m. Friday.

Michelle Istler-Perry, 45, the woman who drove the wrong way, was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee, Sgt. David Tullis said. Her blood-alcohol level was not available.

Police said Istler-Perry was southbound on Michigan and turned east on the Trail in the westbound lane.

Two vehicles avoided Istler-Perry’s car, a Kia Soul, before she collided with a pickup truck driven by Frank Almester, 45, of Maumee.

Sergeant Tullis said the collision was not directly head-on, but the impact flipped Mr. Almester’s Ford F-350 pickup onto its side. Both vehicles sustained heavy damage, police said.

With Mr. Almester was his daughter and her two friends. Their names were not available. All four occupants of the pickup were wearing seatbelts, Sergeant Tullis said.