Anchorage

2 Anchorage police cruisers struck during response to collision on Glenn Highway

Two police cruisers were struck Friday morning while officers responded to an earlier collision that prompted a closure on the Glenn Highway, the Anchorage Police Department said.

The inbound lanes of the Glenn Highway were closed around 9 a.m. near the Eklutna exit due to a collision, police said in an alert. Police did not provide any further information about the initial collision.

Following that incident, a southbound vehicle “failed to change lanes despite a road closure” and struck an unoccupied police cruiser, the department said in an update Friday afternoon.

Another vehicle later “failed to reduce speed” and sideswiped a second police cruiser before striking the first cruiser, the department said.

“An officer exiting the second cruiser at the time of the collision sustained minor injuries but did not require hospitalization,” police said.

It was not immediately clear if there were other injuries or if any citations or charges were filed against the drivers.

Spokesman Chris Barraza said in an email that the department would not answer further questions about any of the collisions because it “only provide detailed information on crashes involving life-threatening injuries. Unfortunately, this specific crash did not meet those criteria.”

Police around 9:45 a.m. said traffic was being redirected in both directions near the Eklutna exit.

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