KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
If you were driving past Bell’s Flats on your way into or out of town Tuesday morning, you may have noticed the AC Express store was closed, and appeared to have some damage around the front door. If you had looked closer, you might have seen the detached front bumper of a 2004 Chevy Cavalier – complete with license plate – nearby.
A casual glance may have indicated an attempt to break into the convenience and liquor store – which it was, but it turns out to have been just one incident in a night-long string of events that landed a Kodiak man in jail, charged with four felonies and six misdemeanors, including domestic violence, criminal mischief and reckless driving.
According to Alaska State Trooper reports, the 33-year-old Kodiak man reportedly threatened his estranged wife with a knife at her home on Spruce Cape Road at about 4:30 Tuesday morning, but left before an off-duty trooper arrived. Trooper Boyd Branch later spotted the man’s car and pursued him in what turned out to be a 40-minute, high-speed chase at over 100 miles per hour. It did not end when the suspect repeatedly rammed into the AC Express. The car was later found abandoned several miles away on Tom Stiles Road near Lake Louise.
Though the Troopers, Coast Guard Military Police and the Kodiak Police Department’s K9 unit searched for the man, he was not found – that is until he turned himself in at the Kodiak Police Station that evening. He was subsequently arrested, lodged in the jail and arraigned at the Kodiak Court House yesterday afternoon. His bail was set at $5,000 cash with the condition he have a third-party custodian with him at all times and have no contact with his soon-to-be ex-wife.
Damage to the store is estimated at around $10,000 and damage to the car at about $2,000.
