November 13, 2023 – Fond du Lac Co., WI – Early Sunday morning, November 12, 2023, Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s deputies were investigating a crash involving a motorcycle on northbound USH 151 north of 4th Street.
It was suspected the motorcycle had been traveling in excess of 100mph prior to the crash, but thankfully the operator survived with only moderate injuries. He was arrested for suspicion of 3rd offense OWI.
During the motorcycle crash investigation, the Fond du Lac County Communications Center began receiving reports of a wrong way driver traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of USH 151 from CTH V.
Two deputies cleared the scene of the motorcycle crash in an attempt to locate the wrong way driver. A short time later, Sgt. Paul Metzger located the suspect vehicle approaching his squad as it was travelling northbound in the left southbound lane of traffic. Knowing unsuspecting civilian traffic was approaching behind him, Sgt. Metzger attempted to block the wrong way driver’s lane to stop him and prevent a head on crash.
The driver had enough time to pull over and/or stop, however he did not and instead struck the front of Sgt. Metzger’s squad. The driver of the wrong way vehicle was subsequently arrested for suspicion of OWI along with other charges including reckless driving – endangering safety, operate without a valid DL, driving without insurance, fail to yield to an emergency vehicle, and driving the wrong way on a divided highway.
We are thankful no one was injured in this wrong way driving incident, and commend Sgt. Metzger for risking his own personal safety to get the wrong way driver stopped before he injured or killed an innocent motorist.