Driver faces 5 felony assault charges

PALMER -- A Wasilla woman was arrested Sunday on five felony assault counts as well as for driving under the influence after the pickup truck she was driving collided with another vehicle.

Pamela A. Omary, 45, was driving south at Mile 2.2 Pittman Road when the 2002 red Dodge Dakota slid on a turn and struck a 1991 blue Ford Explorer driven by 48-year-old Dale Weeg with his wife and their two children riding in the Explorer, Alaska State Troopers said.

Everyone in the Weeg vehicle was taken to Valley Hospital for treatment, troopers said. In addition, Yvonne M. Lyons, a passenger in Omary's truck, had to be extricated from the vehicle and was also transported to Valley Hospital by EMS personnel.

The crash occurred about 9:15 p.m. Sunday, according to an affidavit from Trooper Dugger Cook, and Omary registered a .196 blood-alcohol level almost two hours later.

Cook, who interviewed Weeg at the hospital, said he wore a cervical collar and reported his neck and back ached, according to the affidavit. One of the children had a bruised and lacerated left eye lid and multiple other face lacerations, Cook said.

"While speaking to Lyons at Valley Hospital, she was strapped to a back board, wearing a cervical collar, and I observed her to have lacerations to her face," Cook said. "Lyons also appeared to be in pain as each time she moved or coughed, her body would flinch and pull into as much of a fetal position as the restraints would allow."

Cook did not report the extent of the two other patients' injuries.

Cook's affidavit said Omary's eyes were bloodshot and watery, and that she failed field sobriety tests. The document did not say whether the victims wore seat belts.

Omary was lodged at Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility in lieu of $15,000 bail. She faced five counts of third-degree assault in addition to DUI. The assault charges are class C felonies punishable by up to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine.