"Motorist with car trouble killed on Glenn
FATALITY: Witness says glare may have contributed as truck hit stalled vehicle.
By JAMES HALPIN
jhalpin@adn.com
Published: January 8th, 2010 08:13 PM
Last Modified: January 8th, 2010 08:13 PM
A driver who stopped along the side of the Glenn Highway, possibly with vehicle trouble, was killed Thursday afternoon when a pickup rear-ended his vehicle, throwing it forward some 50 feet and pinning the man underneath it, according to police.
The driver, Robert Marvin, 76, was trapped with his chest under the front axle of a Volkswagen van after the pickup apparently coming onto the highway from the South Birchwood on-ramp near Chugiak High School struck the van about 3:15 p.m., according to police.
Marvin was standing in front of the unoccupied, parked van at the time of the impact. The Volkswagen came to rest pressed against the guardrail, the pickup still nosed into it.
"The pickup truck that struck that van came up the on-ramp and smacked into the back of the van," police spokesman Lt. Dave Parker said. "The male victim was standing out in front of the van and it drove the van on top of him. He was crushed by the van."
The van slid along the guardrail about 50-60 feet before coming to rest with the man underneath, Parker said.
Initial reports were that the man was trapped but still breathing under the vehicle, and officials sent a rescue helicopter to the scene. A heavy rescue crew was requested from Peters Creek, but the man was apparently pulled out in a matter of minutes without its help. Soon after, he was pronounced dead, however.
The Glenn's southbound lanes of travel were completely closed while the helicopter sat there waiting to transport the victim. By about 6:30 p.m., the highway and ramp were fully reopened.
The driver of the pickup, Eric Wallingford, 37, reported no injuries, Parker said. According to an Anchorage School District directory, Wallingford is a special education teacher at Chugiak High School. He is also an assistant coach of the school's hockey team, according to the team's Web site.
It wasn't clear why the pickup rear-ended the van. Police said the conditions were somewhat slick but it was light and visibility was good at the scene of the wreck, which was near the intersection of the on-ramp and the highway. It wasn't clear if the van's hazard lights were on. Police did not suspect alcohol was involved.
Wallingford was not cited, Parker said.
Mike Skupniewitz, 41, who drove past the parked Volkswagen moments before the wreck, said there was glaring sunlight shining north along the highway at the time, though the on-ramp may have been shielded from it by a hill. Whether that may have been a factor in the wreck remained under investigation.
Skupniewitz said it appeared from tracks in the snow the driver of the van had been traveling south on the highway and suddenly cut across to a stop on the side of the ramp, though the vehicle appeared to jut out several feet into the lane of traffic.
"The van was at least half out on the dry pavement," Skupniewitz said. "I remember thinking, 'Boy, he's right in the way.' "
As he passed, the driver of the van opened the door and appeared to be getting ready to exit, he said. When he was farther down the road, Skupniewitz said, he began seeing police cars headed north.
It is the second fatality involving a stopped vehicle on the Glenn Highway in recent weeks. About 10 p.m. on Dec. 14, a passing Ford Focus spun out of control and struck a parked GMC Yukon that was stopped in the median 200 feet south of the Fort Richardson exit to help the driver of a disabled vehicle.
The front seat passenger in the Focus, Danielle Flanagan, 20, had to be extricated from the vehicle and was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. No citations were issued in that case.
Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589."
first photo courtesy of Anchorage Daily News
second photo from KTUU.com
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