Chased pickup almost crashes into Walgreen’s

WASILLA — The quick actions of an Alaska State Trooper sergeant kept a battered pickup from crashing through the front door of Walgreen’s last week.

According to an affidavit Alaska State Trooper Mark Granda filed in the case against Jason Isenberg, 29, of Anchorage, the chase began at 7:02 a.m., Nov. 9.

“AST Sgt. Nicholson was traveling northbound on the Glenn Highway near the Old Glenn Highway overpass. Sgt. Nicholson was driving his marked patrol vehicle in the left lane when the defendant passed him in the right lane at about 110 mph in a 65 mph speed zone,” Granda wrote.

The 2014 Toyota Tundra refused to yield.

Soon after, at Parks Highway and Hyer Road, the Wasilla Police Department put out spike strips that managed to deflate the fleeing driver’s side tires of the vehicle.

“The defendant continued traveling north on the Parks Highway toward Wasilla,” Granda wrote.

Hitting downtown, Isenberg drove into the Arby’s parking lot and then into the parking lot of Wasilla Police Department headquarters. Perhaps realizing this was a bad place to ditch his car, Isenberg crossed the highway, entered the Walgreen’s parking lot, and got out while the car was still in drive.

“Sgt. Nicholson was forced to exit his vehicle and enter the vehicle the defendant was operating to take control of the vehicle and prevent the vehicle from colliding into the front entry to Walgreen’s,” Granda wrote.

It was then that Nicholson realized there was a passenger in the car.

“Isenberg’s actions created a dangerous situation for the passenger and Sgt. Nicholson,” Grand writes.

Cops and troopers kept up the chase of Isenberg into the Target parking lot, where a WPD police dog finally brought him to the ground.

“I asked Isenberg what was happening this morning and he said he didn’t know, he just started getting chased by the police while he was just standing in front of Walgreen’s,” Granda wrote before listing off signs that Isenberg was impaired — slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, pinpointed pupils, swaying, smelling of booze. “Isenberg refused to take field sobriety tests and he continued to state he was not driving any vehicle today.”

Troopers also interviewed his passenger, a 33-year-old Anchorage woman.

“(She) was asked if she was scared on a scale of 1-10 and she said she was a 15,” Granda writes.

When Granda ran the vehicle Isenberg was driving through police databases and talked to the owner, the Kendall Toyota car dealership lot in Anchorage, they learned it had been stolen. The dealership said the car had been missing since Nov. 6, but they’d thought it was in the shop.

A search warrant granted Granda the right to take some of Isenberg’s blood for toxicology tests, the results of which were not yet reported in court papers.

Isenberg was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility, charged with reckless driving, failure to stop for a peace officer, vehicle theft, assault, drunken driving, driving on a revoked license and disorderly conduct.

Bail was later set at $10,000 and he was ordered to find a third party to watch him before he can be released. As of Wednesday afternoon he was still locked up.

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