Alleged drunk wedges Mustang on Golden Gate Bridge sidewalk

A drunken driving suspect’s car is wedged in the pedestrian walkway of the Golden Gate Bridge early this month after investigators say he took a wrong turn. A drunken driving suspect’s car is wedged in the pedestrian walkway of the Golden Gate Bridge early this month after investigators say he took a wrong turn. Photo: Golden Gate Bridge District Photo: Golden Gate Bridge District Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Alleged drunk wedges Mustang on Golden Gate Bridge sidewalk 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A drunken driver made it onto the pedestrian walkway of the Golden Gate Bridge on Tuesday and drove 400 yards before his Ford Mustang became wedged on the too-narrow sidewalk, authorities said.

The bizarre episode started at 5:10 a.m. when a boozed-up Daniel Soto, 22, made a right turn from Conzelman Road at the Marin Headlands into the Dillingham parking lot at the bridge’s north end, said Officer Andrew Barclay, a California Highway Patrol spokesman.

Soto then hit the gas, drove through a security gate and started cruising along the pedestrian walkway on the west side of the bridge, Barclay said.

But just as it passed the bridge’s north anchorage, Soto’s late-model blue Mustang became stuck between the guardrail and a fence, causing the airbags to deploy, authorities said.

CHP officers found Soto at the scene and took him to a hospital, where he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. He was later released from the hospital and taken into custody.

At 10:15 a.m., authorities shut down north and southbound lanes of the bridge for six minutes while crews brought in a reaching forklift to pull the Mustang from the walkway and load it on a flatbed truck, said Priya David Clemens, a spokeswoman for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.

“The Golden Gate Bridge crews like puzzles,” she said. “They certainly got a challenge this morning.”

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky