Crime & Safety

Wrong-Way Driver Hospitalized after I-78 Crash, Police Say

State police say driver, 70, of New York, may have been suffering from a medical condition.

By Jack Tobias

A 70-year-old New York man who may have been suffering from an unknown medical condition drove his pickup truck the wrong way on Interstate 78 early Saturday, with police first hearing about the truck in Allentown and managing to end its journey near the Easton exit.

The only damage caused by the wrong-way pickup was that its side mirror clipped part of an oncoming van, according to state police Fogelsville. The pickup driver was hospitalized but the van driver was not hurt.

State police said troopers first heard reports of pickup driver Patrick Gonyea of Conesus, N.Y., driving his 2005 Dodge Ram east in the westbound lanes around 4:18 a.m., when the pickup was near the Lehigh Street/Emmaus Avenue exits in Allentown.

While police tried to catch up to the truck, they got a report that it hit the van and continued east in the westbound lanes. The crash apparently was at mile marker 63 in Upper Saucon Township.

Police driving eastbound finally saw the pickup in the westbound lanes and were able to stop it at mile marker 74.3, which is just west of the Easton exit in Williams Township.

Gonyea was taken to a hospital for treatment, police said. His hometown of Conesus is about 40 miles south of Rochester.

The van driver, Edwin Saez, 32, of the Queens, N.Y., neighborhood of Ozone Park, told police the pickup was in the "fast lane" headed directly toward his 2008 Ford Econoline. Saez, who was not hurt, says he swerved to the right and the pickup's left-side mirror hit the van's hood and mirror.


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