BREMERTON — Two Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputies, a Washington State Patrol trooper and a Poulsbo police officer teamed up to stop an alleged drunken driver who drove the wrong way 14 miles against traffic on State Route 3 Nov. 1.

The 23-year-old Bremerton man was charged with DUI, reckless driving and reckless endangerment after he drove north from Bremerton to Poulsbo in the southbound lanes of SR 3 at 3:33 a.m.

Multiple calls were made to CenCom regarding the driver, who allegedly forced other motorists to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

Two deputies in patrol vehicles caught up with the man’s silver Kia SUV. They drove parallel to the driver in northbound lanes and activated their emergency lights to try and get his attention.

The driver’s speed varied from 40-60 mph, according to Kitsap County court documents.

At the same time, the WSP trooper was driving southbound at a speed of 10 mph in the south lane with his emergency lights activated. The trooper used his radio to instruct Poulsbo police to set up spike strips near Finn Hill Road in Poulsbo.

As the driver came closer, the trooper had to swerve to avoid being struck.

Shortly afterward, the driver’s vehicle was disabled by the spike strip and came to a stop. The man was arrested. According to the trooper, the man had a strong odor of intoxicants and had bloodshot eyes.

The trooper asked the man why he drove the wrong way.

“I asked him if he noticed that he almost hit my patrol car head-on and he stated no, and also stated they were trying to go to ‘Shari’s.'”

The man then went on to talk about his cell phone battery, that it had only 16 percent charge left and that he could not charge it in the car. The man told the trooper he stopped because he ran out of gasoline.

The trooper told the driver the reason his car stopped was because it hit the spike strips. The man “had a confused look on his face, and did not appear to understand the situation,” the trooper wrote.

As the man was transported to jail, he asked multiple times how long the arrest would be on his record and he would not stop talking.

According to the report, the incident started at a Bremerton bar. The man met a woman there and she offered to buy the man breakfast at Shari’s restaurant if he drove her home, but the two became lost.

“He passed approximately 30-40 vehicles, nearly causing head-on collisions with innocent motorists as they attempted to move from his path,” the trooper wrote.