Children on ATVs keep troopers busy

WASILLA — Friday was a harrowing day for children on all-terrain vehicles.

Two separate calls sent Alaska State Troopers and area medics to the scenes of ATV incidents.

First, at 12:13 p.m. a caller reported seeing a woman and three small children on an ATV in the Little Susitna River near the Schrock Road bridge. The caller reported seeing the ATV being swept down river but couldn’t see the people that were on it. Troopers arrived on scene to find the woman and her children safe.

“Investigation revealed that the woman, Amber R. Watford, age 32, of Wasilla lost control of the ATV while attempting to turn around in the river. Watford got the children off of the ATV before it was swept down the river. The ATV flipped on its side in the strong current and came to rest about one hundred yards from where it entered the river,” according to a trooper press statement.

Medics checked everyone out and they were all OK Troopers pulled the ATV out of the river. Troopers say they’re consulting with the Palmer District Attorney’s office about whether to cite the woman for driving a motor vehicle in a salmon stream.

The second call came in at 5:27 p.m. and related to an ATV that rolled over in the Williwaw subdivision in Wasilla.

Two 16 year olds were in the Polaris Ranger — one of the models of four-wheeler with side-by-side seating — when it rolled. Both kids were ejected.

“Both driver and passenger were transported by EMS to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries. Neither driver nor passenger was wearing a seatbelt or helmet,” troopers report.