Troopers Identify Man Killed in 3-Vehicle Seward Highway Crash

1 Dead, 16 Injured in Crash

August 04, 2011|by Kortnie Horazdovsky, Rebecca Palsha and Chris Klint | Channel 2 News

Courtesy Gwen Lawyer

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska State Troopers have identified the man who was killed in the three-vehicle collision Thursday afternoon on the Seward Highway near Indian that also injured 16 others. Jason Small of Girdwood, 39, was entrapped in his vehicle and died on the scene.

Troopers responded at about 1:42 p.m. Thursday to Mile 104.2 of the highway, where a Ford passenger van headed north driven by 72-year-old Lewis Hayes of Anchorage crossed the center line and struck nearly head-on a Ford F-150 pickup driven by Small. The van continued north in the southbound lane, also hitting head-on a Chevrolet Suburban SUV driven by 43-year-old Dorota Balaban of Anchorage.

According to troopers, the three vehicles contained a total of 17 people, including eight each in the Ford van and Suburban. Small, who lived and worked in Girdwood while his family lived out-of-state, was the only occupant of the F-150.

A church group was in the van being driven by Hayes, one of the pastors at Muldoon Road Baptist Church, while the Suburban was loaded with a family, friends and kids.

The occupants of the Suburban escaped shortly before it caught fire, threatening two people who were entrapped in the van and against the wreckage -- but several other motorists helped the victims.

"When we were pulling people out of the van, the Suburban started on fire and we got some guy with chains to hook it to the van and pull the van away from the Suburban, because there was a guy trapped in the front seat of the van that couldn't get out," said David Plaisted, one of the drivers who helped. "That was going to start on fire if we didn't move the van."

Multiple Anchorage Fire Department and Girdwood Fire Department units responded to the scene, extricating the trapped people and extinguishing the Suburban. Units from Alaska State Parks Law Enforcement and Alaska Railroad Law Enforcement also responded.

All eight occupants of the van were seriously injured and taken to the hospital, with Hayes flown by air ambulance due to life-threatening injuries. The eight occupants of the Suburban all suffered minor injuries and were treated and released on the scene.

Thursday’s crash is the first fatal one on the Seward this year; the last one was in December 2010. Troopers have stepped up patrols on the highway since the five fatal collisions in 2009, adding six Alaska Bureau of Highway Patrol troopers near Girdwood.

All three vehicles were a total loss, and the Seward was closed until 9 p.m. Thursday. The wreck remains under investigation, and troopers say they won't know for a few weeks why the van crossed the line pending toxicology tests and other work.

Editor's note: Troopers have revised the casualty count in Thursday's wreck from initial figures to one dead and 16 injured.

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