One man is dead, another critically injured and a third is in jail facing a second-degree murder charge after a Friday night collision that police say was caused by a drunken driver.
Witnesses told police that a speeding pickup ran a red light, long after the light had changed, and slammed into a midsize sedan at the intersection of 36th Avenue and A Street a few minutes before midnight Friday.
Timothy Oates of Fairbanks, 47, the passenger in the sedan, was killed on impact. Jack Boddy of Anchorage, 43, the driver of the sedan, was critically injured, police said.
Trent Knutson, 37, was alone in a Ford F-250. He was arrested Saturday evening on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree assault and driving under the influence, Lt. Nancy Reeder of the Anchorage Police Department said.
He is being held at the Anchorage Jail in lieu of $200,000 cash-only bail.
Knutson was treated for minor injuries and released from the hospital Saturday morning, Reeder said. A test performed at the hospital showed that Knutson's blood contained more than three times the legal limit of alcohol, she said.
Those blood results persuaded police to file charges quickly, Reeder said. Knutson has no criminal history, according to police and a database of public records.
"He was very distraught, which is unusual -- to have people who are remorseful," Reeder said.
Police found witnesses who were in the same westbound lane of 36th as Knutson, as well as other witnesses who were in the same northbound lane of A Street as Boddy and Oates.
"Witnesses tell us he was driving at a high rate of speed and changing lanes," Reeder said. "The traffic light is red for westbound traffic and the truck continues through the intersection, never slows, never brakes, and managed to get all the way across to the left-hand lane of A Street."
In that final lane, heading north, was the Kia Optima carrying Boddy and Oates.
"Witnesses behind the Kia saw what was getting ready to happen," Reeder said. "They were able to tell us the northbound light had been green for some time."
Oates' death is the city's 15th traffic fatality of the year known to have involved drugs or alcohol, Reeder said. Two others are awaiting the results of toxicology tests.
His death is the 22nd traffic death of the year -- almost 50 percent more than the 15 recorded in both 2006 and 2005.
Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.
