Short chase, long search lead to arrest

MEADOW LAKES — A very short car chase and a relatively long foot pursuit landed a man in jail Tuesday.

Alaska State Troopers say that just before 1 a.m., they received a call about a possible drunken driver in a red Chevy Trailblazer at Alaska RV Park on the Parks Highway. They tried to pull the vehicle over.

“The vehicle drove off at a high rate of speed,” according to the press release, driving “through the RV park, across the Parks Highway and through a ditch.”

Both people inside the fleeing vehicle got out and ran. A trooper search dog, K-9 Roelle, tracked them for a mile and a half before finding John F. Caverly, 27, of Wasilla, hiding underneath a piece of construction equipment. Troopers say he was the driver and that he later tried to hide the keys from them. He was charged with evidence tampering, reckless driving and eluding arrest and jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $10,000 bail.