Driver traveling 5 mph on highway, in field charged with OWI

Authorities say a suspected drunken driver who’d been headed the wrong way waved at an officer as he re-entered the highway after going into the ditch.

The Rock County Sheriff’s Office said a deputy responded to a report late Sunday of a wrong-way pickup truck west of Beloit that nearly caused a crash. The truck was traveling 5 mph in a 55-mph zone and had turned around several times.

A deputy spotted the truck in a field, according to the report. Patrick Ryan, 56, of Roscoe, Illinois, reportedly drove around the squad and waved out the window as he drove back onto the road. He continued at 5 mph until the officer pulled alongside and yelled at him to pull over.

The man was arrested on suspicion of his fifth operating-while-intoxicated offense.