Troopers supply more information in fatal Glenn Highway crash

PALMER — Relatives have established a GoFundMe Account to cover the funeral expenses of one of two drivers killed in a fatal accident Friday evening.

The fundraising page for Adam Johnson, 21, of Wasilla, had garnered about $1,700 Monday afternoon toward a stated goal of $5,000, according to the popular crowd-funding website.

The Friday crash also killed David Hecker, 21, of Wasilla.

Adam’s father, Travis Johnson, remembered him as a polite young man with a heart-warming smile. He was an active outdoorsman, and had nearly completed his associate degree at Mat-Su College. The family had worried about the motorcycle, Travis Johnson wrote in an email.

“He was 21 years old, and bullet-proof,” he wrote. “I tried to make him get rid of the bike in fear of something like this would happen. Whoever took the time to know him (loved) him. There is an empty spot in our hearts and we will truly miss him.”

The family plans memorial services for Adam at 4 p.m., Friday at Church on the Rock in Wasilla, Travis Johnson said. Surviving are his mother, Melody; sisters, Ashley and Alyssa; and his father, Travis.

The crash happened about 11 p.m., July 24, according to the Alaska State Troopers.

Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said a 2001 Honda Odyssey was travelling southbound on the Glenn Highway near Echo Lake, and had apparently started to make a left turn across the northbound lanes. Hecker and Johnson were driving motorcycles at a high rate of speed northbound on they highway when they struck the Odyssey, Peters said.

One of the bikers struck the side of the SUV, and the other hit the front. First responders declared the motorcyclists deceased at the scene, according to radio traffic.

Two of three occupants in the Odyssey were transported to the hospital with injuries. Authorities transported driver Lance Shepard, 35, and Josh Shepard, 38, both of Ohio, to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. Lance Shepard sustained non-life-threatening injuries, while Josh Shepard sustained life-threatening injuries, according to trooper dispatches. A third occupant did not require immediate hospitalization, authorities said.

Hecker and Johnson were apparently part of a small group of motorcyclists flagged by Anchorage Police earlier that evening. When a trooper spotted a group matching the description, he turned around and tried to stop them. A single biker pulled over, but the remainder of the group continued. Two motorcyclists believed to be Hecker and Johnson peeled off and went north on the Glenn Highway, where they collided with the Odyssey near Echo Lake, Peters said.

Authorities say a report made to the state’s Report Every Dangerous Driver Immediately hotline shortly before the crash also may have been about Hecker and Johnson, Peters said.

“The Odyssey was coming over into their lane of travel,” she said. “However, they were travelling at excessively high rates of speed, and they slammed into the side of it.”

Both motorcycles ignited after striking the SUV.

The wreck is the second fatal collision in that stretch of Glenn Highway in three months. A wreck in May killed Jack Watson, 79, of Oregon near the entrance to Kepler Park. In May 2014, three people riding motorcycles also were killed at the same location.

Improvements slated for the Glenn Highway from the Parks Interchange to Palmer are scheduled to begin in 2017, according to the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities website. The project is presently in the final design and right-of-way acquisition stage, according to project manager Sean Baski.

Transportation engineers have looked at the intersections in the area, and the Kepler Park intersection did not cause any red flags because the number of collisions there falls below the state average, Baski said. The project was designed to direct traffic pulling onto the Glenn to controlled intersections, and also to increase visibility for motorists pulling onto the highway.

“There are numerous amounts of accidents over any stretch of (time), so they kind of get averaged in there,” he said. “Each loss is a big impact to the community, for sure. We recognize that.”

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