Burglary evidence found in stolen SUV that led police chase

WASILLA — A car chase early Thursday morning led to a power outage and recovery of evidence from two theft cases, but not an arrest.

According to an Alaska State Troopers press statement, officers tried to pull over a Chevy Suburban driving in the wrong lane near Seldon Road and Winona Drive at 4:28 a.m.

“I had to avoid him. I was going to a different call and this guy was in my lane without headlights on. I was flashing my headlights at him and hitting the shoulder to avoid a collision. I turned around to go attempt to make contact,” Trooper Daron Cooper wrote in an email AST spokeswoman Megan Peters forwarded to the Frontiersman.

The Suburban didn’t stop for Cooper; instead, leading him on a chase. On Aoki Drive, less than half a mile from where the pursuit began, the Suburban hit retention wires on a power pole, causing a transformer to explode and cutting power to the area.

At one point the Suburban went through two yards in a subdivision.

“He crashed through about a 20-yard segment of trees that separated the two yards. He attempted to go through another set of trees, but couldn’t. I obviously didn’t follow this guy through the yards in my car, so I was paralleling him on the street,” Cooper wrote in his report.

With the Suburban stopped, the driver — described as a white male adult — got out and ran on foot. Troopers searched, but couldn’t find him.

Cooper said that when he got up to the Suburban he noticed a backpack full of cigars and a baseball bat that “clearly looked like it was used to break glass with (gnarls all over it).”

He said he called dispatchers to see if the closest convenience store — the Fishhook Food Mart at Wasilla-Fishhook and Seldon Roads — had an alarm.

“They said that in fact they did get a call from ADT reporting the alarm. We responded to the store and the front door glass was broken,” Cooper wrote.

Dispatchers hadn’t yet sent an officer to investigate since the chase was ongoing.

Troopers report they called the Suburban’s owner only to learn the Chevy had been stolen the night before.

Cooper said troopers had been investigating a pair of male suspects who had been trying to break into cars and homes earlier that night. Manpower was low because of yet another pursuit earlier in the night.

“We were not able to locate the two males at that time. The video from the store and our caller’s description of at least one of the males both matched,” Cooper wrote.

Troopers say they brought the Suburban back to its owner and called Matanuska Electric Association to restore power.

MEA reports that 39 customers were out of power for nearly four hours due to the exploded transformer.

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