Hood-up driver causes fracas

July 12, 5005

KATE GOLDEN\Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA -- Police suspect alcohol may have been involved in the case of a 46-year-old Anchorage driver who, on Wednesday, rear-ended a car, fled the scene and later, while on foot, jumped into the path of a passing truck.

On the Parks Highway, a few cars back from the red light at Church Road, the black Ford Explorer driven by Guy Knighton smashed into the yellow 1987 Toyota pickup driven by 31-year-old David George of Willow, according to police. The Toyota was pushed into the oncoming traffic lane.

Knighton reportedly drove the Explorer into the ditch on his right side, got back onto the highway, and kept going.

His getaway may have been hampered by his vehicle's hood, which had flown backward in the collision. It was covering the windshield.

Witnesses told police he was driving on the wrong side of the road, hanging his head out his window, after he turned right on Church Road.

Meanwhile, George and a witness to the collision, whom police did not identify, were pursuing him in their vehicles. George called 911 on his cell phone at 7:11 p.m. So did several other people, Wasilla police Officer Angella Long said Monday.

About 2.5 miles up the road, the Explorer turned east on Schrock Road. The speed limit is 45 mph there. One witness clocked the SUV at roughly 55 mph, Long said.

"That would seem fast if you're driving with your hood up," Long said.

The getaway vehicle, its radiator damaged, quit working near Sage Road, about three miles down Schrock. Knighton's pursuers parked in front of the Explorer.

Residents of a nearby house said they didn't know the man who came running toward their home.

George and the other man followed Knighton on foot and told him he needed to return to his car and wait for police to arrive, Long said. Witnesses gathered.

A resident said the two men showed no obvious signs of restraining Knighton, but rather, looked as if they were helping him walk.

"Suddenly, Mr. Knighton jumped into the path of a truck," Long said witnesses told her.

The driver, Angela Rinkevage, 39, a local resident, had already slowed because of the commotion ahead of her. She hit Knighton head-on; he fell under her truck, not in the path of its tires.

Long said Rinkevage was extremely upset. Rinkevage was not available for comment Monday.

"She's just an innocent bystander," Long said.

Central Mat-Su medics, Wasilla police and Alaska State Troopers, who were already on their way, arrived shortly afterward.

Knighton was taken to Valley Hospital. He suffered no visible broken bones or external injuries. No one else was injured.

Given the crowd that had gathered, Long said, it was "truly confusing" to sort out who exactly had been involved.

Long said she is waiting for test results from Valley Hospital before she files charges, but suspected Knighton had been drinking alcohol beforehand.

She roughly estimated the damage to the Toyota at $2,500.

Contact Kate Golden at 352-2284 or kate.golden@frontiersman.com.