Who doesn’t love watching a police chase? They can be a bit of a guilty pleasure for spectators. However, they’re also extremely dangerous for offenders, police officers, and bystanders. Unfortunately, one wrong-way driver learned that the hard way after trying to elude law enforcement by driving against traffic.

A police chase turned deadly after an Arizona man tried to give cops the slip by driving the wrong way on a highway

Running from the cops is generally inadvisable. After all, law enforcement has access to backup units, air units, cameras, and countermeasures like tire deflation devices (TDDs). Still, even with these odds, some drivers choose to run from the “berries and cherries” in their rearview mirror. Sadly, those efforts are sometimes fatal.

That was the case for one Arizona driver attempting to outrun the police. The driver was heading south in a northbound lane of Interstate 17 in Phoenix, per azcentral. Police understandably did not chase the car as it sped against traffic. However, that didn’t stop the driver from skirting the inside shoulder of the highway, forcing other drivers to divert as he did so.

At around 2:00 a.m., the police chase came to an abrupt end. The driver struck another vehicle, causing devastating damage to both cars. The driver died from his injuries. Tragically, a passenger in the impacted vehicle also perished in the crash.

Unfortunately, wrong-way crashes and police chases kill and injure drivers with some frequency. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that over 300 people die in wrong-way crashes every year. Soberingly, police chases are even more deadly than those motorists heading against traffic.

According to USA Today, a police chase claims a life on an almost daily basis. Around 11,500 have died in high-speed pursuits and chases since 1979. Worse yet, a sizable portion of those deaths weren’t offenders, but rather bystanders. 

Check out a social media post below with a video of the wrong-way driver flying down I-17!