Alaska State Troopers report that approximately an hour after receiving a stolen vehicle report, the thief took them on a long car chase along the Sterling Highway on Friday night.

Troopers located the stolen vehicle at approximately 11:32 pm on Friday night traveling on the Sterling Highway. The vehicle was stolen from the Walmart store in Kenai earlier that night. When troopers attempted to pull the driver, later identified as 26-year-old Dustin Rediske, over, he elected instead to take them on a chase on the highway. 

Rediske took troopers on a 16-mile pursuit southbound on the Sterling until a tire deflation device was deployed just before the Soldotna city limits. The suspect would narrowly avoid a head-on collision with another motorist while he was in the northbound lane before crashing into the ditch totaling the vehicle. 

Troopers took Rediske into custody and transported to the Central Peninsula Hospital where he was treated for minor injuries. Upon his release he was once again taken into custody on charges of first-degree vehicle theft, third-degree assault, felony driving under the influence, third-degree criminal mischief, driving while license revoked, first-degree failure to yield at the direction of a police officer, probations violations for a prior felony DUI offense, and an outstanding arrest warrant.

He was transported to Kenai and remanded at the Wildwood Pretrial Facility.

  chase, crash, dui, dustin rediske, kenai, soldotna, sterling, sterling highway