A Deputy from the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office in Minnesota faced tragedy on the early morning hours of Tuesday when a wrong way driver smashed into the passenger side of his cruiser which was occupied at the time by his wife who was doing a New Year's Eve ride-along.

Margaret L. Lopez, 56, of Shoreview, MN, died at the scene. Deputy Joseph Lopez, 61, a 27-year veteran of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department suffered minor injuries and was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul before being discharged Tuesday morning.

The wrong-way driver, 23-year-old Beth Rhodes, was taken to the hospital, and as of Tuesday night, was in critical condition.

The Minnesota State Patrol is investigating the crash, and it could take weeks or months to determine why the car was going the wrong way or how fast it was going, but investigators say alcohol may have been a factor.

"Alcohol was detected on the driver traveling the wrong way," says Lt. Mark Peterson of the State Patrol. "At this point in time, that's all I can confirm."

Link to the article from Officer.com

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Drunk
written by anonymous, January 14, 2008

The father of this drunk has a church with a congregation of 40(including staff) He made no mention of the Lopez family in his prayers the Sunday after his daughter brutally killer Mrs. Lopez. The prayer was all about Beth, his drunk daughter. I've seen Beth about 20 times and she always looked like she was on something.

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