A 37-year-old woman who stole a pickup Tuesday and led officers in a brief pursuit on the Glenn Highway faces numerous charges, police say.
Officers arrested Shelly A. M. Mazon after stopping the truck, and used a pepper-spray projectile and then a police dog to bring her under control after she ignored their commands, the Anchorage Police Department said in an update Wednesday. Alerts issued late Tuesday described only an “incident” that diverted traffic at the Hiland Road exit for about 30 minutes.
The 1994 Toyota truck was taken from the Eagle River Fred Meyer parking lot, police said. The truck’s owner saw it drive by as he sat in a separate vehicle with a friend just before 10:30 p.m., they said.
They followed the truck while they called 911, police said. There was no indication the victim and suspect knew each other.
The man told dispatchers he was following his own stolen truck in another vehicle and provided location updates until officers caught up, police said. He said there was a can of bear spray and a large knife in his truck.
Officers tried to stop the pickup, but Mazon drove onto the Glenn Highway headed south, police said. The officers then used “vehicle tactics” to get the driver to stop near the weigh station.
APD spokeswoman Renee Oistad said she could not provide additional information about what maneuvers were used because the department doesn’t publicly disclose such tactics.
After the truck was blocked in by patrol cars, the officers gave the suspect “multiple commands which she refused to comply with,” police wrote. They say they gave several PepperBall and K9 warnings.
Officers then deployed a pepper-spray projectile into the truck through an open window, police said. Mazon opened the door but then shut it again, they said.
The dog was then sent through a rear window and bit Mazon in the upper body, police said, which allowed officers to approach, remove Mazon from the truck and take her into custody.
Mazon was brought to a hospital where she was treated for the dog bite and pepper spray exposure, police said. She was questioned when she was released from the hospital.
Mazon faces charges of first-degree vehicle theft, second-degree theft and third-degree criminal mischief, as well as failure to stop. She was jailed at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center.