Female Anchorage Driver takes Troopers on Car Chase through Glenn Highway Construction Zone


After seeing a silver Ford Taurus hit the guardrail near mile 27 of the Glenn Highway, a trooper elected to attempt a traffic stop on Wednesday night.

Instead of pulling over for the trooper, the driver of the Ford, later identified as Marlene Ahnupkana, age 34 of Anchorage, attempted to elude the officer. Troopers say “While the Taurus was attempting to elude AST, another driver had to take evasive action to avoid a collision at high speeds.” After narrowly avoiding that collision, Ahnupkana impacted the guardrail again followed by a collision with the pursuing trooper as she attempted to turn around into oncoming traffic.

The chase was cut short when Ahnupkana went into the median and her vehicle was disabled.

All occupants of the vehicle were detained and Ahnupkana was placed under arrest. The on-scene investigation would find that she was driving under the influence. Ahnupkana was charged with Failure to Stop at the Direction of a Peace Officer in the 1st Degree, Assault in the 3rd Degree, Assault in the 3rd Degree against LEO, Driving while Under the Influence, Reckless Driving, and Driving While License Revoked.

She was transported to the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility in Palmer, where she was remanded and held without bail.