HOLTSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) – A man was charged with driving under the influence of drugs after allegedly sleeping behind the wheel of his SUV as it rolled slowly along the Long Island Expressway, police said.

Highway patrol officers responded to a call at about noon Friday of a driver going 20 mph in the center lane of the eastbound LIE on eastern Long Island, said Sgt. Michael Mehr, one of the arresting officers.

Several officers caught up with the Ford Expedition around Exit 63, about 50 miles east of Manhattan.

One officer determined that the driver was asleep, going 35 mph by then. The officers tried to wake him up by sounding their sirens and horns.

When that didn’t work, one patrol car pulled in front of the SUV and a second behind, squeezing the vehicle between them and stopping it.

The driver, Stephen Nielsen, 38, of Southampton, still didn’t wake up, Mehr said, adding that the officers forced his door open to remove him from the vehicle.

After being treated at Brookhaven Hospital, Nielsen was arrested and his vehicle was impounded.