An Alaska State Trooper fatally shot a man who allegedly drove his vehicle in the direction of the officer in Fairbanks early Tuesday morning following a brief car chase.
That’s according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety, which says the trooper fired his gun after the driver didn’t stop in response to the trooper’s commands.
According to a written statement posted online Tuesday, an Alaska State Trooper had tried to stop a Ford Sedan just before 3 a.m. close to Noble Street and Airport Way. That intersection is near the south side of downtown Fairbanks.
The dispatch says the trooper pursued the car after the driver allegedly refused to stop. The dispatch says, about a minute and a half later, the driver went down 5th Avenue and into a dead end, where a marked trooper vehicle partially blocked in the car.
According to the dispatch, the car then drove toward a trooper who was giving commands to stop. The dispatch says the trooper shot at and struck the adult male driver, the car’s sole occupant, “due to the driver’s actions.” He was taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Austin McDaniel, a Department of Public Safety spokesperson, said in response to an emailed question about whether the trooper was on foot when shots were fired that the trooper was “outside of the vehicle” at the time.
Asked whether the car was on a collision course with the trooper and about his distance from the driver, McDaniel said the trooper was “directly next to the vehicle when they discharged their weapon.”
The Alaska Bureau of Investigation is looking into the incident, and its investigation will be reviewed by the state Office of Special Prosecutions, as required by state Department of Public Safety policy. McDaniel declined to say how many shots were fired, citing the investigation.
He said troopers receive “substantial training on vehicle interdiction tactics.”
“Once the criminal investigation is completed by the Alaska Bureau of Investigation and Office of Special Prosecutions, the DPS Tactics and Training Review Board will review this incident to determine if any tactics, training, or equipment should be changed in the future,” McDaniel wrote by email.
The dispatch names neither the trooper nor the driver. It says the trooper has been placed on seven days of administrative leave and will be identified after 72 hours, and that the driver will be identified after next of kin have been notified.
The incident marks the second fatal shooting involving an Alaska State Trooper in Fairbanks within 10 days. On June 28, two Fairbanks Police Department officers and one trooper shot 31-year-old Brandon Roberts outside the Bentley Mall. An image released by police after that incident appears to show Roberts pointing a gun at an officer shortly before they shot him.
That shooting incident remains under investigation by FPD, which has identified officers in that case as FPD Officer Gregory Stratman, FPD Officer Matthew Pugh and Alaska State Trooper Julien Dreher.