Hypothermic man found near Man Made Lake

BUTTE — Alaska State Troopers are investigating how an Anchorage man wound up on the ground and severely hypothermic near Man Made Lake Thursday.

According to an AST report, Charles Wocell, 49, Palmer, was heading out to the Knik riverbed when he happened upon a van and an unconscious man lying nearby in the snow.

“Wocell immediately proceeded home and contacted Alaska State Troopers before returning to the scene with several sleeping bags to await AST arrival,” troopers report.

Wocell stayed there with the man until troopers and medics arrived. Troopers identified the man as Samuel Byers and say he was taken to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage in critical condition. They say the van had been there since the night before and had apparently run out of gas.

Stuck snomachiner OK

TALKEETNA — Troopers say inaccurate GPS coordinates and bad directions conspired to make a snowmachiner stuck near Chulitna spend nine hours Sunday waiting for help.

Troopers were notified of the stuck snowmachiner at 2:15 a.m., according to a trooper press statement.

Troopers report that Rick Mann, 41, Anchorage, had become stuck in a creek bed 10 miles west of the Parks Highway near Mile 121. A friend riding with him went back to the McKinley View Bed and Breakfast to gather help.

That’s where the GPS coordinates and directions would have helped had they not been faulty. Searchers didn’t find Mann until 11:45 a.m.

“With the help of two snowmobilers in the area Mann was able to free his snowmobile and return to the McKinley View B&B a little cold, but in good health,” Troopers report. “No AST resources were used in the search and safe return of Mann.”

Drunk leading the drunk

BIG LAKE — Troopers allege two men — both named Garrett — were drunk when one tried to tow the other out of a ditch.

A member of the public alerted troopers Friday that a tan 1990 Ford pickup that went into the ditch on Beverly Lake Road may have had a drunk driver at the helm. Troopers went to the scene and found the pickup, as well as a 1988 Ford Bronco that was attempting to pull it out of the ditch.

Troopers say that Garrett L. Hooper, 49, of Big Lake, was piloting the pickup and Garrett F. Fassler, 52, of Big Lake, was at the wheel of the Bronco.

Hooper was booked into the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility, charged with DUI and DWLR with bail set at $2,500. Fassler was charged with just DUI, and jailed at the same facility on $500 bail. Jail records Monday afternoon showed Fassler has bailed out, but Hooper had not.

Happy landing for rolled pickup

WASILLA — A pickup that rolled over on the Glenn Highway Saturday apparently landed on its wheels and kept going before troopers arrested the driver for allegedly driving drunk.

According to a trooper press statement, Sathit Sypakanphay, 56, Wasilla, was behind the wheel of the white 2006 Nissan Titan when it rolled over in the ditch near the Palmer Hay Flats.

“The Toyota landed upright and continued driving northbound on the Glenn Highway,” troopers reported, based on a complaint from the public.

At around 12:58 a.m. troopers pulled the pickup over for having a tail light out, according to court records.

Sypakanphay failed a series of sobriety tests — court records show he blew a .143 on the breathalyzer at 1:20 a.m. The legal limit for driving is .08.

He was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility, where records showed Monday afternoon that he had since bailed out.