Trooper wrecks car during search for escapee

Frontiersman staff

PALMER — Add to the jacket and chain-link fence on the list of property damaged during an inmate’s run from the law last week one patrol car.

According to an Alaska State Troopers press statement, Trooper Scott Bjork, 30, of Wasilla, was northbound on the Old Glenn Highway heading into Palmer to help track down escaped prisoner Kent Matte, who spent six hours running from the law after unweaving one fence and scaling another at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility Wednesday morning.

Bjork was driving his 2010 Ford Crown Victoria and, at Mile 12.1, went to pass a Ford Freestar van that was driving 40 mph.

Bjork, “lost control as he began to accelerate on icy road conditions. The patrol vehicle collided with the rear of the van and then both vehicles spun into opposite ditches,” according to the press statement.

Bjork crashed into a chain link fence and a gate before the patrol car came to a rest. Troopers estimate damage to the patrol vehicle at $5,000 and damage to the van at $1,000. Both were drivable. Everyone was wearing a seatbelt. No one was hurt.