Lying Samaritan arrested for DUI, other charges

WASILLA — Police say a witness to a hit-and-run accident was himself driving drunk and was also was lying when he said he didn’t know the at-fault driver.

Wasilla police were called to the Wal-Mart parking lot to investigate a collision at 2:38 a.m. Tuesday. There, they talked to the woman whose car had been hit. They also spoke with Justyn Swanson, 19, of Wasilla.

“Swanson stated he saw the vehicle and tried to stop it but could not identify the vehicle or the driver,” according to a police press release.

During their investigation, police arrested Swanson for drunken driving, underage drinking, minor driving after drinking, violating his release conditions and hindering prosecution. The last charge came after police found the at-fault car and identified its driver as Michael Beane, 21, of Wasilla. Police say Swanson knew Beane and that multiple other witnesses identified Beane as the at-fault driver.

Police say they later found Beane’s car and took it to an impound lot, but couldn’t find Beane. The car Beane allegedly hit had to be towed from the parking lot.

Swanson was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $2,500 bail. Jail records Friday afternoon showed he was still there.

No word Friday as to Beane’s location.

Man gets stolen van

back a year later

WASILLA — It turns out that a Chugiak man whose van was stolen more than a year ago only had to look behind the Wasilla Senior Center.

Wasilla Police say that at 8:12 a.m. on Thursday they were called to the center where the van was reported as abandoned. Police were able to determine it had been sitting there for about a year.

According to police, the van was listed in police databases as stolen from the Houston area in 2008. Police contacted the owner in Chugiak and gave him back his van. The van was not damaged.

—Andrew Wellner