An off-duty Grenville officer in an unmarked police vehicle was nearly struck by a wrong-way driver on Highway 401 near Prescott.

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer was traveling eastbound when a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction nearly hit him head-on. The vehicle avoided the officer and continued in the wrong direction.

The officer saw the suspect driver turn around and begin driving eastbound. The officer followed him off the highway in Johnstown and stopped.

Upon approaching the vehicle, the Ontario Provincial Police officer identified himself to the driver who fled at high speed towards the U.S. border.

The suspect made another U-turn and drove in the wrong direction off the suspension bridge when another officer arrived and blocked the exit.

“Officers observed the driver and initiated a DUI investigation,” the release states.

The driver was arrested and charged by the Grenville Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police with dangerous operation of a vehicle. Subsequently, a drug recognition assessment was performed.

The accused was released and will appear in court in December.