The woman took the scooter from a local Kroger grocery store, according to police in Newport. She allegedly drove it through a maze of traffic, down the exit ramp and onto Interstate 471, heading northbound in the southbound emergency lane.
“She was up against the wall, traveling in the emergency lane,” said Lt. Paul Kunkel with the Newport Police Department.
She had made it nearly a mile from the store before she was stopped by officers just south of the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge into Cincinnati.
Shopping scooter on the interstate!!! From the- you ain’t gonna believe this – file. Woman takes a shopping scooter from Newport Kroger. Goes North in Southbound emergency lane on 471. Police divert a potential disaster. @WLWT pic.twitter.com/1wS7WJaBPg
— Brian Hamrick (@bhamrick_wlwt) August 26, 2019
The veteran Kunkel said he couldn’t recall a traffic stop like this one.
“In my police career, no. This is unique,” he told WLWT
Police said the woman was suffering from a “mental episode” and taken to a facility “where she could get the help she needed,” WLWT reported.
The grocery scooter, which still had plenty of remaining battery power, was returned to Kroger.