Official Trooper Website Ignores 5-Car Tazlina Pileup, Says It Wasn't Serious Enough To Report

Cars Towed, Possible Injury In Spectacular Multi-Car Crash
August 1st, 2024 Two Miles South Of The Hub 

PHOTOS OF INCIDENT COURTESY SHILAH BUTLER, TO THE JOURNAL 

August 1st crash in Tazlina. (All photos courtesy Shilah Butler) 

 

Troopers Waited Two Weeks Before They  

Made A Report, At The Journal's Prodding 

5-Car Pileup Just Wasn’t Very Serious, Troopers Tell Journal – 

Except "For Your Local Publication”  

Because, Troopers Say, It Was "Damage Only" 

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"While I recognize that a damage only vehicle collision without any significant road closures is a significant incident for your local publication, this week we have been reporting out information on multiple deaths, violent crimes, and other incidents that are extremely serious and of regional, statewide, and national public interest.”

- Letter to Country Journal August 13th, 2024 From Austin McDaniel, Communications Director, Alaska Department of Public Safety, Regarding 5-Car Pileup At Road Construction Crash in Tazlina

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Troopers Complain About Requests For Information 

The Alaska Department of Public Safety Trooper Communications Office is getting pretty fed up with the Copper River Country Journal. The Journal regularly asks questions about unreported Trooper activity in the Copper Valley. 

This annoys the Department of Public Safety, which maintains that the Journal is writing “unnecessary commentary” about the lack of information. 

They say there's a reason when Copper Valley incidents aren't reported. According to the Trooper Communications Department for the state, local accidents and other incidents may seem “significant…for your local publication" but, in the overall scope of things, they’re not reported because they’re not of "regional, statewide or national public interest."

The Journal  believes that reports on local Trooper activity are vital for supporting the Troopers, general safety, and law and order in the valley. 

Because of the scarcity of information, the Journal has printed stories and editorials on several occasions over the past few years – since the paper was reinstated on the web – about the lack of regular Trooper reports in the Copper River Valley. The purpose of Journal "commentary" is to point out the problem and try to prod the Troopers to action. 

A Failure To Communicate 

CAR CRASH IN TAZLINA

On August 13th, 2024, the Trooper Communications’ Department’s patience wore out. They warned the Journal that “if we are to continue working together” the Journal would have to change its ways. 

The Troopers’ open irritation was triggered by an incident that happened recently when there was a multiple car crash two miles south of the Hub in Glennallen at a road construction DOT flag stop. Details about the pileup did not make their way into the statewide web-based Trooper Dispatch reports, produced by the Department of Public Safety. The site is reviewed daily by the Journal. 

The Journal first heard of the Tazlina incident on Friday, August 9th, when a person working near Tazlina – who was still shaken by the experience – described what they knew.  

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On Saturday, August 10th, 2024,  the Journal wrote to the Troopers asking for more details about the crash. Gossip and rumors weren’t enough to go on. There was a need for definitive, Trooper-written details. The Journal explained in its request to the Department of Public Safety: 

Yesterday, headed south to Valdez, someone who said they were at a scene of a recent major 5-vehicle pile-up... began to describe it.

They said several cars were totalled. That it was at a pilot-car turnaround point. And they felt the Troopers hadn’t done a DUI test.

Granted, this is rumor. But — if there actually was a 5-car crash with all 5 vehicles damaged, when exactly did it occur? How many cars were actually involved? Was anybody hurt? Was there a DUI involved? Is it in the Trooper report?

I don’t seem to find this story on your Trooper Dispatch site. If it’s already there, please direct me to it. If not, please write up a detailed report and send it along.

Several days later, on Monday August 12th, Austin McDaniel, who runs the statewide Trooper communications department, wrote the Journal that the Tazlina pileup must have been “damage only” and not a major incident. And that he had no record of it: 

"I cannot find any record of a vehicle collision in this area during the timeframe you provided. If there were no injuries or significant traffic impediments, Troopers would not typically respond to damage only vehicle collisions"

That day, concerned that people in the cars, or DOT workers, might have been seriously injured in such a crash, the Journal went down to Glennallen and Tazlina to talk with people who might have been nearby during the incident, or who had heard about it. 

According to local people…

• The pileup occurred at a road construction traffic stop.
• It involved 5 vehicles.
• At least one person was said to be injured.
• Three of the vehicles had to be towed to Glennallen they were so badly damaged.
• It occurred on August 1st. 
• Two of the damaged cars were a Ford F150 and a Chevy Silverado. 
• The cars were stopped in line and were rear-ended at a pilot car turnaround. 
• People are not happy with Trooper response. 

When the pileup occurred, people in the surrounding community were aware of the incident and heard it was happening – immediately. The Journal talked with people who apparently were actually there on site, another one who saw all the cars towed into Glennallen, and two who were in nearby buildings by the road in Tazlina.

Of course, this was not “official” information, but it was all that was available. 

One person said, “It is a serious accident and there was bodily injury,” adding, “We are confused about the actions of the Troopers and how they handled it. We are as confused as the public is.” 

The incident was well known at Tazlina. Another person, who was working nearby at a business said, “I didn’t see it, but it seemed serious.” 

After the Journal reported this information back to the Communications Department, the following report was finally forwarded to the Journal. 

The Trooper report was dated August 13th, and appeared to be custom-written for the Journal; it was not officially posted on the Trooper site. Details remained sketchy. 

There was no information on whether anyone was examined for alcohol use, how endangered the flagger or any other workers might have been, vehicle descriptions (including an Alyeska Pipeline truck) and other details: 

On August 1, 2024 at 11:24 am, the Alaska State Troopers were notified of a vehicle collision near mile 113 of the Richardson Highway. Troopers and VPSOs responded. A preliminary investigation revealed that three vehicles were stopped by a construction flagger when two other vehicles failed to stop and collided with the stopped vehicles. Three vehicles were towed from the scene. No injuries were reported to Troopers and no significant road closures occurred.

At the end of the official report, the Troopers included a statement to the Journal saying that they were working with “multiple deaths, violent crimes and other incidents that are extremely serious”. Though the Tazlina crash might have been important for Copper Valley people, it apparently didn’t rise to the level of other problems Troopers face.

Then on the evening of Wednesday, August 14th, a series of photographs taken by a witness at the accident site were emailed to the Country Journal by Shilah Butler.

They are shown here. 

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MAT-SU FOLLOWS DIFFERENT RULES 

So what kinds of incidents rise to the level where they are important enough to end up in the Trooper Dispatch put out by the Department of Public Safety every day on the web? 

The Communications Department wrote the Journal that car wrecks were mainly reported when they forced a "complete closure" of the highway. They said in their email:

"For awareness, DPS does not typically post press releases on damage only vehicle collisions unless there is a significant road closure associated with the collision (1+ hour, complete closure, no detours) – which did not occur for this collision."


But three days ago, in a standard press release, it was obvious that this rule isn't administered across the board. There are different strokes for different folks. 

Especially for accidents in the Palmer-Wasilla area. 

Several days ago, a Ford Taurus "drifted" off the road and hit a tree near Palmer.. That relatively uneventful accident was faithfully reported, by the Troopers, on the same Trooper Dispatch reporting site that failed to report the Tazlina 5-car crash: 

Here's another one-car crash in the Mat-Su Valley this August. It says that a car on the Glenn in Palmer hit the guardrail, and there were no injuries. This report was also officially posted on the Trooper Dispatch website, unlike the Tazlina crash:

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THREE BEARS & SHOPLIFTING CRIMES 

It's apparently very subjective what type of crimes and accidents end up in the official web Trooper Dispatch informational report. 

Any activity around a Three Bears store is reported. There are many Three Bears stores in Alaska. When somebody trespasses into one of them, or shoplifts something, they are promptly arrested. Those arrests end up in the state web Trooper Report – the one that did not list the Tazlina crash. 

Here’s a brief rundown of summarized Trooper Reports involving Trooper response to  four Three Bears stores in the last 8 months. There were 13 Trooper-reported incidents reported on the website that took place inside the stores, involving shoplifting and/or trespass. One was for shoplifting two bottles of water. 

• Shoplifting in Big Lake 
• Trespass in Wasilla 3 Bears  
• Trespass in Wasilla 
• Trespass, arrest and jail in Wasilla 
• Trespass, 3 Bears Wasilla
• Citation for Shoplifting $13.99 worth of alcohol, Wasilla 
• Shoplifting, $50.98 of product, arrest with court date at 3 Bears in Palmer 
• Shoplifting, $46 worth of goods, 3 Bears Wasilla 
• Criminal theft, trespass at 3 Bears Wasilla; sent to Palmer Pre-Trial 
• Taking $45.92 worth of items without paying, 3 Bears Wasilla 
• Criminal Trespass at 3 Bears Big Lake 
• Theft of two water bottles, 3 Bears Wasilla, along with concealing other items 
• 3 Bears Tok: Criminal trespass