High-speed chase ends in Valley

Frontiersman

WASILLA — A 120-mph car chase that started Monday night in Anchorage wound up in the Valley, ending shortly after Alaska State Troopers and Wasilla police popped the fleeing Mustang’s tires.

According to an Anchorage Police Department press release, officer John Daily spotted two vehicles racing in Anchorage’s downtown area near Sixth Avenue and F Street.

Daily pulled over one of the cars, a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, at Ninth Avenue and Gambell Street, the press release states.

“They got stopped and I think they were ticketed,” Anchorage Police Department spokesman Lt. Dave Parker said.

It was the second car, a Ford Mustang, that was the problem.

Parker said a second APD officer, Sean Keating, picked up the fleeing Mustang at Michael Court and Peck Avenue. But the Mustang didn’t stop, instead ramming the front of the Keating’s patrol car. Keating was unhurt and attempted a “pin maneuver” to place his car in a spot that would keep the Mustang from fleeing, Parker said.

“As the officer got out the guy was able to scoot out of it somehow,” Parker said.

Two more officers joined the hunt but were evaded at Peck Avenue and Burton Street when the Mustang drove through a yard.

At that point the Mustang headed onto the Glenn Highway with APD on its tail. Speeds reached 120 mph on the highway and officers eventually called off the pursuit, concerned about both the speed of the chase and the road conditions on the Glenn.

Instead of chasing the Mustang, officers radioed ahead to the Valley.

“They figured that it would be safest for all of those involved to cut of the pursuit on their end and have us pick it up and that worked out well for everyone involved,” said trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters.

Troopers spotted the Mustang near the Trunk Road exit of the Parks Highway headed toward Wasilla.

At Main Street and Parks Highway troopers and Wasilla Police Departmnt officers put down spike strips to deflate the Mustang’s tires.

Its back tires running on rims, the Mustang continued through Wasilla into the Meadow Lakes area and finally stopped at Mile 53.

Parker couldn’t speak to why the driver eventually gave up but said, “I think running on rims out to Mile 53 might have had something to do with it.”

The driver, Johnny Havird, 31, of Anchorage, was the only person inside the Mustang. He was jailed in Anchorage on charges first-degree eluding arrest, third-degree criminal mischief, driving on a suspended license and third-degree assault with a deadly weapon – for ramming the patrol car.

Bail was set at $225,000 and Havrid will need to find a third party to watch over him before he can be released.

Parker had the highest of praise for the work Valley officers did.

“Most people don’t understand the relationship between the law enforcement agencies in this state is tight,” he said. “All we had to do is give them a call and they lassoed that hombre.”

Parker said this wasn’t the first time Anchorage police had a run-in with Havrid, or even their first pursuit with him behind the wheel. On Aug. 28 of this year, Havird was arrested for eluding arrest, a charge for which he was convicted Sept. 12, sentenced to time served in jail awaiting trial.

In that case, Parker said, Havrid was driving a white GMC Jimmy officers were seeking that managed to get away during a pursuit a week prior. They didn’t know who the driver was in that initial pursuit but when they tried to stop the Jimmy it ran again.

After a short pursuit, Havrid gave up the chase somewhere in Anchorage’s Nunaka Valley area, Parker said, but police still had to use police dogs to track him down on foot.

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