Accident

Anchorage police responded to a single-vehicle accident on the Glenn Highway near Muldoon early Sunday evening. According to police, the vehicle in the crash at about 5 p.m. rolled several times on the highway's median between Turpin Street and Muldoon Road. Three young men were injured, one seriously. Police closed one inbound and one outbound lane of the Glenn while responding to the accident. All lanes of the Glenn are now open again.

by Channel 2 News staff Sunday, June 27, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A traffic accident in Fairview early Sunday left three people injured. Anchorage police say the collision happened just after 3:30 a.m., when an eastbound Pontiac sedan was T-boned by a Chevy Malibu at the intersection of 6th Avenue and Ingra Street. Both cars were destroyed, and at least three of the vehicles' occupants were sent to local hospitals. Investigators believe the accident happened after one of the drivers ran a red light at the intersection.

Two people are in the hospital after a Friday morning collision on the Seward Highway. Alaska State Troopers say the accident brought traffic to a standstill for about an hour. Troopers say their initial investigation of the collision, just after 9 a.m. near Windy Point at roughly Mile 106, shows slick roads and speed are factors. Investigators say a southbound vehicle skidded into oncoming traffic and may have been going too fast. “I've had some other people comment to me today already: there's a lot of traffic, Alyeska's open, people are trying to get south to get to the resort, it's a beautiful day -- people are trying to get out,” said troopers Sgt. Bryan Barlow.

Slick streets are being blamed for an accident Wednesday, in which a People Mover bus slid off the road near Northern Lights Boulevard and UAA drive. The bus slid down a small hill and rear-ended a pickup truck, then went into the median. One person in the pickup truck was injured and taken to the hospital. “We were coming down the hill on a bus and it's a little slicker than the driver realized, and he slid partway down the hill and managed to try to take evasive action, and ended up rear-ending the vehicle in front of him and ended up on the median there,” said People Mover’s Gary Taylor.

A driver ran a red light at Benson Boulevard and Spenard Road just after 9:30 a.m. Friday, sending a woman to the hospital. Police say the driver of a white pickup truck admits he ran a red light while heading south on Spenard and crashed into a black SUV heading east along Benson. Firefighters were on the scene in minutes, and quickly extracted the woman driving the SUV. She was brought to the hospital with injuries. The driver of the white pickup and his passenger were not hurt.

An Anchorage man suffered serious injuries while setting off fireworks New Year's Eve. Anchorage police say 21-year-old Zachery Stewart was shooting off fireworks about just before 11:00 Friday night. APD says he was holding a mortar-style firework when it exploded, blowing off his right hand. Officials say this was the only major injury reported from that night when fireworks were legal from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

by Ted Land Wednesday, July 14, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Traffic at one of the busiest intersections in Anchorage is moving again. A semi truck took a spill Wednesday morning and closed northbound lanes on C Street at Dimond. Witnesses say the truck driver was making a left hand turn when he tipped over and spilled about a dozen large metal pipes. The driver managed to crawl from the cab without serious injury, while the pipes rolled into traffic and damaged a few cars.

A teenager died in a car wreck near Soldotna Tuesday morning. Alaska State Troopers say it happened just after 11 a.m. near Mile 8 of the Kenai Spur Highway. Officials say 14-year-old Rylene Oskoloff was killed when the SUV she was riding in drifted into oncoming traffic and was T-boned by a van. The driver of the SUV, 43-year-old Kenai resident Donald Eide Jr., and the driver of the van, 76-year-old Ronald Malston, were taken to a nearby hospital with injuries. The Alaska Bureau of Highway Patrol is investigating the collision.

Anchorage police responded to the scene of a single-vehicle accident that killed a woman Saturday morning. The driver and sole occupant, 47-year-old O’Malley Elementary School nurse Heidi Lubke, was declared dead at the scene. A Hillside resident discovered the crash in a wooded area on the 11100 block of Hillside Drive at about 7:15 a.m. A preliminary investigation shows Lubke's 2001 Saab was likely going 90 to 100 mph when she tried to turn at a curve in the road.

Alaska State Troopers have identified a 15-year-old boy who died early Wednesday at a Fairbanks home in a possible electrical accident involving a dryer. According to AST spokesperson Beth Ipsen, Joseph Hines died at a home on Lakeview Terrace in Fairbanks, to which troopers were called at about 1 a.m. "The boy was found dead by a family member -- he was home alone," Ipsen said. While AST spokesperson Megan Peters says investigators believe Hines was electrocuted when he reached behind a dryer and touched an unprotected electrical source, Ipsen says he may have also asphyxiated based on the position he was found in. A determination won't be made on Hines' cause of death until his body undergoes an autopsy.

Two teenagers that were trapped inside a tram at Alyeska on New Year's Eve after a weather accident, waited Saturday to ride the tram back up the slopes. However, weather conditions prevented the repaired tramway system from taking passengers, since wind speeds never dropped below 30 miles per hour. On the last day of 2012, strong winds sent one of the trams into a tower and trapped two teenagers and several employees for nearly five and a half hours. Catie Quinn, of Peters Creek, was knocked unconscious and suffered minor injuries in the incident, but said she would return and has already hit the slopes several times since the traumatic event.

UPDATE (8:50 a.m.): The Glenn Highway is now clear and open, according to APD officials. The Glenn Highway has been closed in both directions for almost two hours after a three-vehicle accident occurred in the inbound lane, according to Anchorage police officials. Shortly before 7 a.m., APD responded to the rear-ending accident on North Birchwood involving a Honda CR-V, a Nissan Centra, and a Subaru. Officials did not clarify which vehicle rear-ended the other, but confirmed that zero injuries or fatalities were reported.

The Anchorage Police Department has changed how it handles minor accidents, with drivers rather than police officers writing up reports for crashes like fender-benders. Officers are now making sure drivers exchange information cards. “It's something that the (state) troopers have been doing for a while -- the easier access to the reports makes it easier for the citizens as well,” said APD Deputy Chief Steven Hebbe. “I think once people understand it, we haven't had too many problems.” APD says it began enforcing the new policy at the beginning of October.

A crew member of the state ferry Columbia was injured Friday afternoon in an accident involving a port ramp at Bellingham, Wash., according to Washington news agencies and Alaska officials. Local TV station KOMO says the incident involved a ramp which landed on the female crew member shortly after 3:20 p.m., causing multiple injuries for which she was rushed to a local hospital. Minor damage to the Columbia was also reported. Alaska Department of Transportation spokesperson Jeremy Woodrow says the details of what happened are unclear, but confirmed the time of the accident and said it involved a ramp maintained by the port.

A Sterling man is presumed dead after trying to retrieve a canoe from the frigid waters of Portage Lake while hiking with his brother Monday afternoon. According to a Tuesday AST dispatch, Dave and Larry Dobson canoed to the south side of the lake Monday for an afternoon hike, but found that their canoe had drifted into the lake when they returned to the shoreline. Larry Dobson, 50, swam after the canoe and attempted to bring it back to shore. “During the swim, he began to struggle and eventually disappeared beneath the water surface,” troopers wrote.

A man was killed Saturday evening when he drove his truck off an embankment on the Glenn Highway near Palmer, according to Alaska State Troopers. Benjamin Loyer, 40, was traveling northbound around 5:30 p.m. when he began riding along the guard rail for about 200 yards. He then drove off the highway and his 2004 Chevy truck began rolling down a steep embankment. Loyer was ejected from the vehicle, and was found about 60 yards down the embankment, about 100 yards away from his truck.

An Unalakleet woman was shot through both legs by her sister in a Friday hunting accident, according to Alaska State Troopers. A Monday AST dispatch says Unalakleet troopers were informed shortly after 8:20 a.m. Friday that a possible shooting victim, 27-year-old Janine Iknokinok, was at the local clinic with serious injuries to her legs. Troopers say Iknokinok had been riding a four-wheeler on a road into Unalakleet after a moose hunting trip with her sister, 18-year-old Savoonga woman Dinah Toolie, when their vehicle ran out of gas slightly under a mile and a half out of town.

The mother of a 13-year-old girl -- severely injured when her bicycle was struck by a car in East Anchorage last week -- is making an appeal to the public tonight (Monday): If your child rides a bicycle, make sure that he or she is wearing a helmet. For "Mary -- wearing her bicycling helmet -- absolutely saved her life," Mrs. Robicheaux said at Providence Hospital this afternoon. It's the place where her daughter is being treated. "If she had not been wearing her helmet, we would have lost her. " Young Mary Robicheaux was struck last Tuesday evening -- at the intersection of Northern Lights and Nichols.

A man convicted in the 2010 beating death of his friend faced a judge Wednesday to hear his fate. Philip Floor, 25, was sentenced to 11 years in prison with three years suspended in the death of 23-year-old Harvey “Charley” Albright. Prosecutors say Floor and two other men -- Kenneth Upton and Carl Leedom -- beat and pistol-whipped Albright after they claimed he stole a backpack full of cash, then dumped his body at a riverbank near Palmer. Floor was found guilty of manslaughter in April in the case, but not guilty of second-degree murder.