Ax-wielding man assaults snowplow

BIG LAKE — It’s one of the little annoyances of street parking in the winter — digging your car out after the plow passes.

But Alaska State Troopers allege it got to be too much for one Big Lake resident who used an ax last week to vent his frustration.

According to an affidavit Trooper Wallace Kirksey filed in court, at 12:57 p.m., Nov. 6, troopers received a report of an assault on a plow truck driver on Saquonee Street.

The truck driver reported a man ran out in front of his truck, forcing him to slam on his brakes.

Both quotes Kirksey includes from that man — later identified by troopers as 45-year-old Vernon Dean Logan Jr. — contain profanity. But essentially, Logan expressed displeasure that his car was plowed in.

The driver told Kirksey that, “Logan then hit the driver’s door of his truck with a maul-type ax, causing approximately $200 damage. (The driver) said he thought Logan would beat him with the maul if he did not leave, so he put his truck in gear and fled.”

Kirksey wrote that at 2 p.m., he managed to find Logan’s father on Tanaina Road.

“He said Logan told him he had words with a plow truck driver earlier that day,” Kirksey wrote.

That was more than the younger Logan would say. He wouldn’t even give Kirksey his name, though later on the ride to Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility he did allegedly admit to some vague run-in with a plow truck.

Troopers say Logan was booked into jail, charged with assault and criminal mischief. Bail was set at $5,000. As of Monday he’d bailed out.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.