Palmerite crashes JBER gate

ANCHORAGE — A Palmer man whose bullet-riddled SUV was found near Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson faces three federal charges relating to illegally entering the base.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage, Kyle Hansen, 25, is charged with assault on a federal officer — he allegedly hit an Air Force policeman in his trip through the base — destruction of government property — he hit a police vehicle — and illegally entering a military property.

Matthew Dallara, a special agent with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, writes in an affidavit connected to Hansen’s case that the incident occurred just after midnight Jan. 19 when an older-model GMC pickup illegally entered the base at the Boniface gate.

“The subject vehicle then sped through JBER on Arctic Warrior Drive at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour,” Dallara wrote.

The pickup tried to exit at Government Hill, but was blocked and started heading back to the Boniface gate. On the way, it hit an Air Force police patrol car, disabling it.

“The subject vehicle then continued through JBER at speeds reaching 60 miles per hour and met a roadblock at the intersection of Arctic Warrior Drive and Vandenberg Avenue,” Dallara says.

There were five airmen at the roadblock, one of them was Airman 1st Class Julio Camacho.

“While trying to avoid the roadblock, the subject vehicle struck A1C Camacho’s rifle. This subsequently caused A1C Camacho’s rifle to strike him in the throat,” Dallara wrote.

Everyone else at the roadblock then opened fire.

Somehow, the pickup managed to get through the roadblock. On its way to the Boniface gate an Air Force policeman also fired on it. The pickup crashed through the closed gate, causing $30,000 to $50,000 damage and leaving behind a license plate.

That plate is what led them to a friend of Hansen’s, who told investigators he’d had the vehicle registered in his name because Hansen wasn’t allowed to own a car under the terms of his probation for drunken driving.

The friend also told the investigator that Hansen had been driving drunk that night before dropping him off at a friend’s house shortly before the gate crashing incident and driving off with his passenger door open.

Friends of Hansen also told investigators they knew Hansen to be a recreational consumer of the cold medication Coricidin D and described him as a former heroin user.

The pickup was found three miles west of the Boniface gate.

Hansen was pretty quickly found and arrested at a friend’s apartment in Eagle River. He denied any involvement in the incident and asked for an attorney, thus ending his interview with investigators.

One of his friends showed investigators text messages from Hansen an hour after the incident that read “pick up your phone” “I need you now” and “s---- hit the fan.”

“Hansen told (his friend) he did not stop when they were shooting at him because he was scared they were going to kill him,” Dallara wrote. “Hansen told (his friend) he was going to go home, get his guns and go out with a bang because he couldn’t go back to jail.”

Hansen’s criminal record in state court includes a conviction in Anchorage for failing to stop for a police officer and a felony drunken driving conviction, both in 2009; and a violating conditions of his release and felony drunken driving conviction in 2008. That the 2008 case was a felony means it was at least his third drunken driving conviction.

Jail records Thursday afternoon listed Hansen as being housed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.