A man accused of ramming his SUV into a state vehicle transporting prisoners and driving recklessly on the Glenn Highway was taken into custody after a traffic pursuit Thursday, authorities said.
The driver, identified as 34-year-old Travis Drury, was arrested Thursday afternoon, Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman Sunny Guerin said in an email Friday. Drury’s hometown was not available.
Around 10 a.m. Thursday, Anchorage police officers responded to reports of a black GMC Yukon XL that was “actively ramming” an Alaska Department of Corrections vehicle traveling north on the Glenn Highway near the weigh station between Anchorage and Eagle River, Guerin said.
Others had called police dispatch about the same vehicle “driving recklessly at a high rate of speed” on Ingra Street and on the Glenn, according to Guerin, who said the driver reportedly tried to ram into another SUV, cut off other vehicles and was tailgating.
There were five inmates and one officer in the corrections department’s passenger van, which was heading to Goose Creek Correctional Center, corrections spokeswoman Betsy Holley said in an email.
After the SUV struck the inmate transport van, the van’s driver pulled off the highway at the weigh station, and the SUV continued northbound along the Glenn, Guerin said.
No one in the van was injured, though they were brought to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center “just be on the safe side,” Holley said. There was no apparent relationship between the suspect and van’s passengers, Guerin said.
An officer who spotted the SUV on the highway used lights and sirens to try to stop the vehicle, but the driver continued down the Glenn “at a high rate of speed,” Guerin said.
Alaska State Troopers were able to stop Drury by the intersection of the Glenn Highway and the Parks Highway near Palmer, troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said Friday.
Troopers “utilized a couple of techniques to end that pursuit safely, including the deployment of tire deflation devices, as well as the use of a PIT maneuver to stop the vehicle,” McDaniel said.
Drury was brought to the Anchorage jail, and he faces criminal charges of assault and failure to stop, Guerin said.