Helicopter kept busy ferrying injured drivers, passengers

WASILLA — Sunday saw an above-average number of medevac flights in the Valley, all transporting people injured in vehicle wrecks.

The most serious came shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon at about Mile 5 Bogard Road where two cars collided head-on.

Alaska State Troopers report that Kathleen Coslow, 41, of Wasilla, was westbound in her blue and white 1990 Chevrolet Caprice when she crossed the double yellow line and hit a red 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer. Coslow and the other driver, James F. Libby, 63, of Wasilla, were both left in critical condition.

Libby was taken to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in an ambulance and Coslow was flown to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.

Though he couldn’t speak to the patients’ injuries, citing medical confidentiality rules, Central Mat-Su Deputy Fired Chief Michael Keenan said the accident was severe with both drivers entrapped.

“We used two rescue trucks and two engines to get the patients out,” he said. “We landed the helicopter right on Bogard Road.”

The road was closed down for at least an hour, Keenan said, and likely longer. He said when medics departed, troopers and police were still on scene investigating.

Troopers were called out to the next wreck requiring a helicopter at 10:01 p.m. Collette Anna Folk, 50, of Talkeetna, was southbound on Talkeetna Spur Road when, at about Mile 12.5 on an uphill curve her 1997 Ford F150 pickup left the road and hit the ditch, rolling several times and coming to a rest on the driver’s side.

Troopers say Folk was flown to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. Her pickup was totaled.

The third wreck was probably the most dramatic, beginning with troopers chasing a motorcycle up the Parks Highway. They spotted the motorcycle at about Mile 49, driving 75 mph in a 55 zone in the highway’s traffic safety corridor where fines are doubled.

Troopers say the motorcycle accelerated away from them, at times reaching speeds of 110 mph.

At about mile 91.5 of the Parks Highway the motorcycle tried to turn right on Lechen Drive, troopers report, and the driver lost control, hitting the ditch. The motorcycle’s passenger was thrown ahead of the bike and was run over.

Troopers don’t name the passenger in their press release but say he was flown to a hospital in Anchorage with minor injuries, treated and released.

Despite throwing his passenger and running him over, troopers say the driver regained control of the motorcycle and continued on, eventually driving off the end of Lechen Road and running into the woods.

Troopers tracked the driver down and identified him as Eugene Sweeney, 40, of Talkeetna. He was arrested for eluding arrest, assault, driving on a suspended license and reckless endangerment. He was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $5,000 bail. Prison records late Monday showed he was still there.

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