Police chase ends in driver's arrest after multiple collisions

Jordan Coil was sitting in his pickup Monday on C Street, waiting for the traffic light to turn green. He was headed home.

Then, he said, he heard a cacophony of sirens and saw a green van going the wrong way down the one-way street. It was closely tailed by several police cars. All were headed his way.

"It just happened so fast. I was like, 'Am I really seeing this?' " Coil, 27, said. The van crashed into his truck. His airbags deployed. "I just didn't want to get shot," said Coil, standing in the rain Monday evening. "So I just ducked down in my truck."

Anchorage Police Department Sgt. Michael Kerle said police first met up with the man driving the green van in the Wal-Mart parking lot on A Street. According to a police news release, an off-duty officer saw the man, 25-year-old Trevon Allridge, and knew he had an outstanding warrant for charges of reckless endangerment and discharge of a firearm. The officer called police dispatch around 5:45 p.m. Monday.

On-duty officers pulled into the parking lot and tried to block in Allridge's van, but without success, Kerle said.

"He continues to back up, go forward, and pingpong all the cars," Kerle said. "He manages to push a civilian car out of the way, over at Wal-Mart."

The man forced his way around the officers and they followed him, attempting to block him in again, just down the road near A Street and 32nd Avenue. He evaded them, drove toward C Street, hit another car and drove the opposite way down the road, according to police.

That's about when Sarah Jennett, a billing and online specialist at Alaska Dispatch News, heard the sirens. She then saw the van plow through oncoming traffic and into Coil's truck. Police cars quickly surrounded the van.

"He started reversing into the cop cars and going forward into the cop cars, trying to get away," she said.

A woman got out of the car, with her hands in the air. A man also got out, later identified as Allridge. He wrestled with officers as they tried to handcuff him, Jennett said.

"While they were distracted on the ground with him, she took off this way. Kicked her shoes off, and started sprinting," said Jennett, pointing toward 32nd Avenue. "So a couple officers ran after her and they got her."

Police said the woman was not injured and not charged. Kerle said the woman was afraid. The man told her he had a gun and "he was going to take out a bunch of people," Kerle said.

Kerle said police pulled out a Taser while attempting to arrest Allridge but did not use it. Police found a gun in his green van.

"They apprehended him pretty quickly for what it was," Jennett said. "And thank goodness they did because he could have killed somebody or really hurt somebody."

Police said that Allridge hit six vehicles in total, including three police cars. No one was injured, Kerle said.

Police said Allridge will be jailed on his outstanding warrant along with new charges, including "several counts of assault and criminal mischief."