Police: Woman on shopping scooter pulled over on going wrong way on interstate

As traffic whizzed by at 70 miles per hour, a woman driving a grocery scooter was pulled over on Interstate 471 just south of the Daniel Carter Beard bridge into Cincinnati.The woman was driving northbound in the southbound emergency lane Monday afternoon.Veteran officer Lt. Paul Kunkel with Newport police couldn’t remember a traffic stop like this one.“In my police career, no. This is unique,” Kunkel said.Police said the woman took the scooter from the Newport Kroger. She apparently drove it through traffic, then down the exit ramp and onto the highway. She made it nearly a mile from the store.“She was up against the wall, traveling in the emergency lane,” Kunkel said.The initial humor of the strange sight was quickly surpassed by the serious danger of the situation.It was “absolutely dangerous,” Kunkel said.Police said the woman was suffering from what they described as a “mental episode.” She was not arrested.Kunkel said the woman was taken to a facility where she could get the help she needed.The grocery scooter was returned to Kroger.

As traffic whizzed by at 70 miles per hour, a woman driving a grocery scooter was pulled over on Interstate 471 just south of the Daniel Carter Beard bridge into Cincinnati.

The woman was driving northbound in the southbound emergency lane Monday afternoon.


Veteran officer Lt. Paul Kunkel with Newport police couldn’t remember a traffic stop like this one.

“In my police career, no. This is unique,” Kunkel said.

Police said the woman took the scooter from the Newport Kroger. She apparently drove it through traffic, then down the exit ramp and onto the highway. She made it nearly a mile from the store.

“She was up against the wall, traveling in the emergency lane,” Kunkel said.

The initial humor of the strange sight was quickly surpassed by the serious danger of the situation.

It was “absolutely dangerous,” Kunkel said.

Police said the woman was suffering from what they described as a “mental episode.” She was not arrested.

Kunkel said the woman was taken to a facility where she could get the help she needed.

The grocery scooter was returned to Kroger.