Wrong-Way Driver Gets Read Rights : Near-disaster: The suspected drunken man travels almost a mile on the Santa Ana Freeway before CHP can stop him.

A suspected drunken motorist drove the wrong way on the Santa Ana Freeway for almost a mile Thursday night, but patrol officers were able to stop him before a collision occurred, the California Highway Patrol said.

“He’s real lucky he didn’t kill anybody,” CHP Officer Linda Burrus said. “We just happened to be at the right place at the right time this time.”

John Matthew Tafe, 36, of Perris was booked on a misdemeanor charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol after he was stopped at the Chapman Avenue exit, just north of the Garden Grove Freeway interchange, Burrus said.

The incident began shortly after 9 p.m. when CHP dispatchers began receiving reports that a motorist was driving on the wrong way on the Santa Ana Freeway.

Burrus said that a motorist spotted Tafe’s 1987 red Ford pickup truck entering the Flower Street exit of the southbound side of the freeway.

By the time three CHP units were alerted, dispatchers received two more calls from people who saw Tafe speed northbound on the southbound side of the freeway, Burrus said.

One CHP unit, driven by Officer Jim Malner, was nearby and got on the northbound side of the freeway to try to get ahead of Tafe, Burrus said. Looking over the center divider Malner and his partner, Officer Jim Ward, spotted Tafe going in the same direction and sped up to head him off near the Chapman Avenue exit, Burrus said.

While other units attempted to reach Tafe from behind, Malner and Ward entered the freeway on the wrong side from the Chapman exit and drove along the shoulder with the unit’s headlights and emergency lights flashing.

“(Malner) put everything on to blind him so he (Tafe) would have to stop,” Burrus said.

The ploy worked, Burrus said, because Tafe slowed down onto the shoulder and stopped in front of the patrol car.

Earlier this month, two people were killed and a third was critically injured when a car heading the wrong way on the San Diego Freeway collided head-on with another vehicle.

According to the CHP, Faith Robinson, 23, of Fountain Valley had driven the wrong way on the freeway for more than eight miles when the accident occurred Dec. 1.

CHP dispatchers said they began receiving calls about 4:30 a.m. that Robinson had entered the San Diego Freeway through the Westminster off-ramp. As officers jockeyed into position to form a traffic break and head her off, Robinson neared the Bristol Street exit and smashed into a car driven by Sang In Ahn, 50, of Irvine.

Ahn died shortly after that crash. His 47-year-old wife, Ook-Ja, remains hospitalized at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

Robinson, who died six days later, was determined to have a blood-alcohol level of .15, almost double the legal limit, authorities said.