Anchorage police say that they have a suspect in custody on felony DUI charges, after he was followed to a Cordova Street apartment complex after he left the scene of a crash with another driver on East Fifth Avenue late Wednesday night.

APD dispatch received a call of an accident where the two drivers were arguing at 11:45 pm Wednesday. As patrol officers were responding to the incident, one of the drivers in the accident told APD she thought that the other driver, later identified as 42-year-old Shawn Bannister, was intoxicated, and had left the scene in his silver Dodge truck.

As one of the responding officers was making his way to the scene, the officer observed the suspect’s truck driving down Gambell, then turning onto 15th Avenue. The officer followed Bannister to an apartment complex on the 1500-block of Cordova. As Bannister pulled into the parking lot, the officer initiated a traffic stop as other officers arrived at the scene.

After seeing signs of intoxication, police performed standardized field sobriety tests which resulted in Bannister being taken into custody on DUI charges and transported to the Anchorage Correctional Center.

At the center, as police were administering a breathalyzer test, Bannister threw himself o the floor and complained that his ankle hurt and needed it to be elevated. Officers assisted and placed Bannister’s ankle on a chair. After several minutes, officers told Bannister that they needed to complete the breathalyzer test, but Bannister refused to get up off the floor.

Then Bannister, still on the floor, began banging his head against the wall. Officers pulled Bannister away from the wall, only to have Bannister start banging his head on the floor. Officers determined that for his own safety, that Bannister needed to be placed in full restraints. As they were doing this, Bannister kicked the officers. He was ultimately placed in the restraints and onto a gurney.

Finally, when he was calmed down, officers removed the full restraints and again requested a breathalyzer several times, which Bannister continued to refuse. A warrant for a blood test was requested and obtained, and blood was drawn.

After blood was drawn, Bannister was remanded on charges of felony DUI (three or more offenses in the past ten years), Assault IV, Felony Refusal, Resisting Arrest, and Leaving the Scene of an Accident.

Bannister is also a convicted sex offender out of Florida and registered in the state of Alaska.

The persons in the vehicle that Bannister hit suffered no injuries.

  15th, Alaska, Anchorage, dui, felony, gambell, leaving scene, refusal, resisting arrest, shawn bannister