Photo by Elliott Cohen for SCVNews.com. Click image to enlarge.

The wrong-way driver in a spectacular collision that shut down part of westbound Rye Canyon for several hours Feb. 9 wasn’t driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol as sheriff deputies initially suspected.

Instead, deputies now believe he had a seizure.

Herbert Guerra, 30, of Panorama City was behind the wheel of a Mercury Milan traveling eastbound in westbound lanes on that Friday afternoon when he crashed head-on into a Ford Explorer driven by Eric Johnson, 40, of La Mesa.

Johnson sustained only minor injuries but Guerra was hospitalized with a lacerated speen, cranial bleeding and a broken leg, elbow and ribs.

Traffic Deputy Mike Shapiro said Wednesday there were “no symptoms of that” when asked whether Guerra had been under the influence.

Shapiro said Guerra possibly had a seizure, and deputies have asked the Department of Motor Vehicles to re-examine the man’s medical record.

If the DMV determines that Guerra has an extensive history of seizures, the DMV would “probably take his license away,” Shapiro said.

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