Deputy's squad car hit head-on by drunk driver in northeastern Minnesota

INDUSTRIAL TOWNSHIP, Minn. (KMSP) - A suspected drunk driver struck a sheriff deputy’s squad car head-on in northeastern Minnesota late Tuesday evening. 

At 11:45 p.m., a patrol sergeant with the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office was patrolling Industrial Township off Highway 8 outside of Duluth when he noticed a vehicle traveling towards him on the wrong side of the road. The vehicle failed to correct lanes and ran a stop sign. 

The sergeant attempted to reverse to avoid a collision and activated his emergency lights, but he was hit head-on by the oncoming driving. 

A preliminary investigation showed the driver, a 25-year-old man from Saginaw, was highly intoxicated and her actions were "possibly intentional," the sheriff’s office said in a news release. He was arrested and booked into the St. Louis County Jail for DWI. 

Neither the sergeant nor the other driver were injured and damage to both vehicles was light.