The Alaska State Troopers shut down the Seward Highway for about two hours on Tuesday south of Turnagain Pass after a driver wrecked a vehicle, then took the car of a good Samaritan who had stopped to help.
Around 12:30 p.m., troopers started getting calls about a person driving dangerously southbound on the Seward Highway, said troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters.
At some point, the driver wrecked the vehicle, Peters said.
A passer-by stopped to help. The driver took that person's vehicle and, heading south, wrecked that car too, Peters said.
By 1:45 p.m., the suspect had been detained, Peters said. She didn't immediately have any other information about the incident.
Both the north- and southbound lanes of the Seward Highway were shut down between Miles 63 and 68, between Turnagain Pass and the Hope cutoff, at 2 p.m. Tuesday "out of an abundance of caution" as troopers investigated what they said was a report of a person who may be armed and hiding in the woods.
Troopers initially received conflicting information about whether one or two suspects were involved in the incident. Peters said that there was only one person, and that they were in custody.
At 4:15 p.m., troopers announced that the highway was back open.