A 28-year-old man drove the wrong way, ran multiple red lights and slammed into a three-vehicle pileup on Madison's west side Monday afternoon — then stripped down to his underwear and bolted from the scene with his dog in tow, according to police. Officers caught up to him nearby, and the dog was later found safe.
The crash happened around 1:20 p.m. at the intersection of Mineral Point and South Gammon roads, according to Fox47, which first reported that police said the man drove the wrong way, ran multiple red lights and caused the three-vehicle crash. Nobody was hurt in the collision, the outlet reported. After the crash, he reportedly stripped to his underwear and ran from the scene with his dog before officers took him into custody a short distance away.
The station's report noted that the man reportedly showed signs of intoxication at the time of his arrest. He was taken to a hospital for a blood draw before officers transported him to the Dane County Jail, where he faced allegations connected to the crash, per the same account.
Conflicting Details on the Exact Charges
Exactly what charges the man is facing remains somewhat murky, with two local outlets offering differing accounts. Fox47 reported that after the hospital blood draw, officers took him to the Dane County Jail on charges of operating while intoxicated and resisting arrest. WMTV15 News, however, reported that the man was medically cleared and then booked into the Dane County Jail on suspicion of first-degree OWI and resisting arrest. The man also faced multiple traffic citations, Fox47 reported. WMTV15 News added that the Madison Police Department did not release the man's name.
Under Wisconsin law, drivers who refuse to pull over when signaled by police may face additional scrutiny. Wisconsin Statute 346.04, available through the Wisconsin Legislature, states that an operator who receives a visible or audible signal to stop from a qualifying law-enforcement officer or vehicle must stop as promptly as safety reasonably permits and may not knowingly resist by failing to do so. Separately, Wisconsin's implied-consent statute, 343.305, holds that anyone driving on the state's public highways is deemed to have consented to testing of their bodily substances, subject to the statute's provisions.
Not the First Wrong-Way Scare on Madison's West Side
This isn't the first time Madison police have responded to a wrong-way driver report in the area. A separate incident described by madison.com detailed a drunken driver who was hospitalized after heading east in the westbound lanes of the Beltline near Old Sauk Road, with officers dispatched just before 2 a.m. in that case.
Statewide, impaired driving remains a persistent safety issue. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has reported that impaired driving contributed to 6% of all crashes and 27% of all fatal crashes across the state in 2024. The agency has also said it expected to have a total of 30 wrong-way driver alert systems installed on the state highway system by the end of 2025 as part of broader efforts to curb such incidents. None of that data draws a direct line to Monday's crash, but it underscores why wrong-way collisions draw heightened attention from state safety officials.
For now, the Monday afternoon crash at Mineral Point and South Gammon roads stands out mostly for its bizarre aftermath: no injuries, a dog reunited safely, and a driver who police say led them on a brief foot chase in his underwear before they took him into custody.
