Alaska News

Police: Anchorage road-rage video circulating on social media led to threats

A video circulating on social media of a weekend road-rage incident between a group of motorcyclists and the driver of a pickup truck led to threats against the driver, Anchorage police say.

No one involved had been arrested as of Sunday evening, said Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman Renee Oistad.

Police said in a statement Sunday that the episode appeared to have happened Saturday morning, shortly after the Bike Blessing and Gathering, which draws hundreds of motorcyclists to downtown Anchorage.

The video, which was filmed on a camera attached to a motorcyclist's helmet, starts with traffic stopped at northbound A Street and 36th Avenue. A group of motorcyclists and a silver Dodge pickup truck begin traveling north when the light turns green.

Then, things go off the rails: "As (the motorcyclists and truck) traveled down A Street the footage captured several traffic violations being committed by both the pickup drivers and several of the bikers," including speeding, illegal passing and failing to use a turn signal, according to the police statement.

Eventually, the motorcyclists and driver of the truck stop at a red light at A Street and Ninth Avenue. Some of the motorcycle riders get off their bikes and approach the driver of the truck. Angry words are exchanged, the truck speeds off and the video ends.

After the video was posted on Facebook and shared on "Alaska's Worst Drivers," a public page with more than 15,000 followers, it garnered more than 17,000 views by midday Sunday.

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Police said someone then posted what they thought was the truck driver's address and "called for people to go to the house and confront the driver."

It wasn't clear whether anyone had actually gone to the house to confront the residents, but police said the people who lived there were in "fear for their own safety due to a situation they were not a part of."

The residents told police the driver wasn't currently living there and "hadn't been at the address for weeks."

No one has been arrested in connection with the incident. Police ask anyone who was involved or who witnessed it to call them at 907-786-8900.

The driver of the truck called police after the confrontation to report that bikers had "broken the side view mirror on his truck," but police hadn't yet taken an official statement from him.

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on in-depth stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers up and down the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.

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