CALHOUN COUNTY, Mich. — Early Saturday morning, deputies arrested two Lansing residents after stopping a wrong-way driver heading north in the southbound lanes of I‑69 near Tekonsha.
Just before 3 a.m. on May 16, the Calhoun County Consolidated Dispatch Authority received an urgent alert from Branch County Dispatch. Multiple drivers were calling in to report a vehicle traveling the wrong direction on I‑69.
A Calhoun County Sheriff’s deputy quickly found the slow-moving vehicle, confirming it was heading straight toward oncoming traffic. With emergency lights and sirens activated, the deputy tried to stop the driver — but the vehicle swerved around the patrol car and kept going.
With the public in immediate danger, a Sheriff’s Office sergeant set up spike strips across southbound I‑69 near F Drive South. The vehicle struck the strips — three out of four tires deflated — and the car came to a stop moments later. Deputies say this likely prevented a head-on collision.
The driver, a 29-year-old woman from Lansing, was arrested and booked into the Calhoun County Jail. She faces charges of Operating While Intoxicated, Carrying a Concealed Weapon, and Carrying a Concealed Weapon While Intoxicated. A 35-year-old male passenger, also from Lansing, was arrested for a CPL concealment violation while intoxicated.
The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Lieutenant Benjamin Hess at 269‑781‑0880 or provide an anonymous tip through Silent Observer at 269‑964‑3888.
Deputies emphasize that coordination between county agencies — and quick reporting from motorists — helped stop the wrong-way driver before tragedy struck.
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