Willow man leads AST on wild chase

PALMER — A Willow man Alaska State Troopers say tore through the Palmer Hayflats at 80 mph without slowing down for an emergency vehicle on the side of the road led them on a high-speed chase into Anchorage Saturday night.

Alaska State Troopers report the 33-mile chase began when Trooper Alfred Borrego tried to pull over a Honda Accord at Mile 33 of the Glenn Highway, two miles south of the Glenn Highway/Parks Highway interchange, because it didn’t slow down for those flashing lights.

Troopers say the driver was Patrick O. Moore, 31, of Willow.

“Moore led troopers on a pursuit southbound on the Glenn Highway, at speeds in excess of 120 mph, while forcefully cutting his (way) through traffic, passing on the left-hand shoulder and running other vehicles out of their lane of travel,” Trooper Peter Frederick wrote in a sworn statement in Moore’s court file.

Borrego stayed in pursuit for the first 20 miles or so until Mile 9 of the Glenn Highway, which Google Maps lists near the Arctic Valley exit, when his car was taken out of commission.

Trooper Borrego “struck a spike strip laid out by Anchorage Police Department and I, trooper Frederick, took over the pursuit,” Frederick wrote in his affidavit.

At the Muldoon Road overpass, Moore’s Honda hit a second APD spike strip, loosing his right front tire in pieces.

“Moore continued at speeds in excess of 80 mph while losing large pieces of his tire and rim in the roadway,” Frederick wrote.

Moore ran red lights on 5th Avenue at Karluk, Juneau and Ingra streets. An AST press release says officers ended the pursuit out of concern for public safety.

Frederick writes in his affidavit that he also lost sight of the Honda in traffic, but the Honda didn’t stay lost for long.

“I located the Honda on the sidewalk of Cordova Street and 5th Avenue,” he wrote. “Citizens in the area pointed me in the direction of the Sheraton Hotel where, with the assistance of (APD), Moore was contacted and detained.”

Frederick said Moore told him he wasn’t driving, that a man by the name of Zachary Butts was. Frederick said neither he nor any other officer saw someone else in the Honda and witnesses said only one person got out of the car. Confronted with that, Moore said he ran because he had methamphetamines in his pocket, but that it wasn’t his meth, it was Butts’ meth.

Moore was charged with possessing meth in addition to driving on a revoked license, reckless endangerment and failure to stop for a peace officer. He also was wanted on a warrant.

Neither Frederick nor the AST press release said what the warrant was for, but court records show Moore does have an open driving on a revoked license case from earlier this year. Closed cases include speeding tickets, a theft case, multiple license violations and a 2007 drunken driving case.

“The investigation is ongoing and further charges are expected,” troopers said in a press release.

Moore was booked at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $27,500 bail. Troopers are asking anyone who saw Moore’s crazy driving to call them at 373-8300 and reference case No. 12-34912.

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