Name of crash victim released

WASILLA — A man killed in a fiery car wreck after a chase Thursday was involved in several crimes before his death, authorities and victims said.

The State Medical Examiner’s office identified James Bain, 54, of Anchorage by fingerprints Friday afternoon, according to Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters.

When troopers attempted to stop Bain as he was driving on Spruce Road, he did not stop, drove through a nearby intersection, struck some concrete and wrecked. The pickup burst into flames, authorities said. Bain was declared dead at the scene.

The 1991 grey Chevy pickup Bain was driving was reported as a suspicious vehicle at a construction site in the city of Wasilla. The vehicle’s owners reported it was stolen Wednesday from Master Auto Repair in Wasilla, one of several used cars available for sale, according to a man who answered the phone at the business Friday afternoon.

The truck was reported as what troopers call a REDDI — an acronym for their Report Every Drunk Driver Immediately program — earlier in the day, and a vehicle matching its description had been involved in a burglary earlier in the day, authorities said.

The vehicle was for sale outside Master Auto Repair Wednesday afternoon when a friendly man with a cane came up and asked Master Repair owner Robert Bynum if he could look at it. Bynum says he gave the man later identified as Bain the keys.

“I went inside for a minute to talk to a tech, and when I came out he was driving it down the Parks Highway,” he said.

After waiting an hour to see if the truck would be returned, he filed a police report on the theft. Bynum’s wife spotted the truck again about 10 p.m. Wednesday night. Bynum tried to confront Bain in a parking lot near the intersection of Lucille Street and the Parks Highway

“It didn’t work out well,” Bynum said. “He threw the truck in reverse, did about $8,000 worth of damage to my truck, and disappeared. We looked for another two hours and we didn’t find it again.”

Wasilla Police called him Thursday evening to tell him they had his truck.

“They said, ‘there’s nothing left but the lugnuts on it, and the man who stole it is dead,’” he said.

Bynum says police told him the chase reached speeds between 60 and 80 miles an hour before the truck struck the concrete embankment and flew through the air between 60 and 70 feet. A 50-pound compressor in the bed of the truck flew 150 feet into the woods, Bynum said.

“The whole truck is about the size of a Yugo now,” he said. “It really destroyed the truck.”

The situation was tragic, Bynum said.

“We lost money on the damage to my truck, we lost money on the truck, and then he lost his life,” he said. “It’s just a horrible thing.”

Court documents show Bain had numerous incidents involving Alaska law enforcement stretching back to 1994. He pleaded guilty to second-degree theft in Anchorage in 2008, a conviction for which he received a three-year prison sentence. As a result of his plea deal, 18 other charges against him were dismissed by the prosecution, court documents show.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com