A teenage driver faces manslaughter charges in an Anchorage collision last month after toxicology tests showed that he was drunk, investigators said.
Mohamad Azzam, 17, was charged as an adult with one count each of manslaughter, third-degree assault and DUI, listed in a court document outlining a police investigation into the Feb. 16 wreck that fatally injured 86-year-old Donna Hobson.
According to assistant district attorney Daniel Shorey, police responded at about 1:40 p.m. that day to a collision near Elmore Road and 64th Avenue, just south of Dowling Road.
Anchorage police said in a statement Tuesday that officers found Azzam in a 2003 Subaru Forester; in the other car, a 2004 Volvo S60, were 77-year-old driver Bobby Hobson and his severely injured wife.
"Donna had to be extricated from the vehicle by the Anchorage Fire Department and all three were transported to the hospital," police wrote.
When police spoke with Azzam, Shorey said, he appeared to be intoxicated due to "an odor of alcoholic beverage on his breath and slurred speech." Officers also found a marijuana bong on the passenger seat of the Forester.
"Azzam told police he drank 'a couple' of vodka shots at his home before driving," Shorey wrote. "When asked if he was drunk, (Azzam) reported he was drunk enough."
Investigators reported that "from the scene it was obvious" that the Forester had been headed north in Elmore's southbound lanes before colliding with the Volvo head-on.
Two witnesses who were driving on Elmore at the time told police that they saw the Forester hit the Volvo. One of them told police that the Forester had tailgated her heading north on Elmore near Lore Road, before passing her and veering into the oncoming lanes.
Azzam was held at the McLaughlin Youth Center pending investigation of the case. A blood sample taken from Azzam under a search warrant returned a blood alcohol content of .165 — more than twice Alaska's legal limit for driving of .08.
Donna Hobson died in the hospital on Feb. 22, according to Shorey.
Azzam was arraigned Monday, according to court records. Police said Azzam's bail was set at $10,000, with a court-approved third-party custodian required for his release.
The case against Azzam is the second in which an Anchorage teen has recently been charged as an adult following a fatal crash. Laauli Ireland Tosi, 17, was charged with manslaughter last month after he told investigators he'd fallen asleep at the wheel before a Tudor Road collision in May 2016, police said. The other driver in that wreck, 76-year-old Sally G. Herron, died nine days later.