Two Anchorage men dead in Wasilla crash

WASILLA — Two Anchorage men died in an unusual high-speed crash in downtown Wasilla Monday morning.

Ross Ripple, 23, and Gerald Taulman, 25, were last seen alive at the Mugshot Saloon, according to the Wasilla Police Department. WPD Sgt. Joel Smith declined Tuesday morning to say which of the two men police suspect was driving. Other media outlets reported it was Taulman. But Smith did lay out a narrative of the crash.

“The vehicle was traveling eastbound on Swanson (Avenue), it appears at a pretty high rate of speed. It appears that it lost control going through the intersection of Main Street and then struck the retaining wall in front of the library there,” Smith said.

The vehicle, a Ford Fusion, was totaled. Eyewitnesses report it was torn in half. In other media reports of the crash, Wasilla police say the odometer was stuck at 80 mph. Smith said that evidence doesn’t necessarily mean what you might think.

“The speedometer was stuck, however that may or may not be an accurate indication of the speed,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of dynamics that go on in a traffic accident especially one that’s that severe.”

He said WPD accident investigators will be working on the crash, collecting data and using computer programs to determine how fast the Ford was moving when it hit the wall. Those determinations are generally the most accurate way to determine how fast a vehicle was moving.

“Our traffic accident team works through to figure out speed and the exact angle that the car impacted the wall and what happened after it impacted the wall,” Smith said.

The process can often take weeks to complete.

“We’re still in investigation mode,” he said.

As for the nature of the crash: it’s not the sort of thing Wasilla sees a lot of. Between stoplights and congestion, traffic generally moves slowly through the city. Especially on its downtown streets. The speed limit on Swanson is 25 mph.

“Usually you see that type of thing out on the highway,” Smith said. “It was unusual to see a crash of that magnitude there. We’re just fortunate there wasn’t someone else in the intersection.”