Marietta officers stop wrong-way driver on I-75

Two Marietta police officers were able to foil a potentially deadly situation in the southbound lanes of Interstate 75 early Saturday morning when they stopped a speeding wrong-way driver. The incident was captured on police cruiser video.

Officers Nathan Devaux and David Auld stopped the driver of a Nissan Titan truck after receiving several 911 calls from motorists. Leonel Rodriguez was arrested for DUI and several other traffic offenses after a brief struggle, Marietta spokesman Officer Mark Bishop said.

Devaux stopped all southbound traffic at the North Marietta Parkway exit as Rodriguez was approaching at about 85 miles per hour, according to Bishop. Auld positioned himself directly in front of Rodriguez.

Devaux attempted to slow the pickup down as Auld was prepared to go head-on with the truck.

“In this situation, our officers have the right to use deadly force,” Bishop said. “Both took a great chance in this situation with their lives.”

The officers boxed Rodriquez before pulling him out of the car as he resisted arrest.

“It was just a matter of time if he wasn’t stopped that there was going to be a bad wreck,” Bishop said. “There were no guarentees that he was going to stop. It was a courageous effort by the officers.”