Man crashes stolen pickup, flees on foot

WASILLA — Alaska State Troopers came up empty Wednesday evening after chasing a stolen pickup from Big Lake to Wasilla and then watching the driver crash it.

According to an AST press statement, at 11:50 p.m., troopers tried to pull over the 1993 Ford F-150. The driver didn’t yield, but instead led them on a chase to Tradewinds Circle in Wasilla, a road in the neighborhoods north of Knik-Goose Bay Road and east of Vine Road.

That’s where the driver crashed into a parked vehicle, got out and ran into the woods.

Troopers were “unable to immediately locate the driver,” according to the press statement.

The chase was the first of two that night. The other involved strikingly similar circumstances — troopers tried to pull a driver over, he fled, drove through two yards before crashing into some trees and taking off on foot. In that case, which technically happened Thursday morning just hours after the pursuit of the F-150, troopers also wound up recovering evidence of a burglary of a local convenience store inside the abandoned Chevy Suburban.

The stolen pickup in Wednesday’s chase was returned to its owner.

Anyone with information is asked to call troopers at 745-2131 or Mat-Su Crime Stoppers at 745-3333.