Anchorage police report that two were arrested as a result of a traffic stop after an Impaired Driving Enforcement Unit officer spotted a silver 2012 Chevy Equinox driving the wrong way down C Street near 68th Avenue Thursday morning.

When the IDEU officer spotted the Equinox with significant front end damage, he activated his lights but the vehicle did not stop. It was only after he activated his sirens did the vehicle pull over after almost hitting a chain-link fence.

The officers made contact with the driver, identified as 27-year-old Martha R. A. Smith, and immediately noticed she showed signs of impairment. The officers also noticed the strong odor of alcohol emanating from the interior of the vehicle.

Smith was ordered out of the vehicle so the officers could conduct Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, but soon after, it was decided that because of her level of impairment she may fall and injure herself and the testing was brought to a halt. She was instead transported to the Anchorage Jail for further processing, APD said. At the jail, Smith refused to submit a breath sample and so a warrant was obtained to gather a blood sample.

At the scene of the traffic stop, officers contacted the other occupants of the vehicle while others went in search of the initial accident site. They were flagged down by an employee in a company sedan who reported that he had been hit by a silver Chevy at the intersection of Dimond Boulevard and C Street. The company vehicle, a 2018 Chevy Cruz had obvious damage with damage to the front and driver’s side and a torn bumper. There was also vehicle debris on the highway.

The victim said he was stopped at the intersection’s light waiting to turn eastbound on Dimond when Smith attempted to turn northbound on C Street and turned wide and crashed into him. She then backed away then continued down C Street the wrong way on the one-way street.

The victim reported injuries but elected to seek treatment on his own.

At the traffic stop site officers found several open and empty marijuana containers on the front seat. They also contacted 32-year-old Deron V. Smith and arrested him on a failure to appear warrant in a DUI case.

M. Smith was remanded on the charges of Operating under the Influence, Refusal, Assault III, Driving While License Suspended, Open Container, and Leaving the Scene of an Injury Crash.

  accident, c street, crash, deron, dimond, dui, leaving, martha, reffusal, smith, traffic stop, wrong way