Monday night traffic stop in Willow leads to seventy-mile chase

Update:  The original version of this story identified Sandra Austin as Sarah Austin.

On Monday night, a traffic stop by Alaska State Troopers led to a high-speed chase along more than seventy miles of the Parks Highway.

At around 9:45 p.m. on Monday, a Trooper stopped a maroon pick-up at mile 67 of the Parks Highway in Willow for speeding. Troopers say the driver and passenger both gave false names. The driver was later identified as 25-year-old Logan Austin and the passenger as 23-year-old Sandra Austin, both of the Fairbanks area.

When the Trooper asked the driver to step out of the vehicle, the driver attempted to pepper spray him. The driver then sped away, and the Trooper pursued.

Troopers say that, at one point during the pursuit, Sandra Austin took control of the vehicle and Logan Austin crawled into the bed and threw tools and other heavy objects at the pursuing Trooper before crawling back in and driving once more.

The pursuing trooper called for backup early in the pursuit, and spike strips near Mile 104 of the Parks popped both driver’s side tires.  The chase continued for more than thirty miles with the truck driving on its rims until it crashed into a ditch near Mile 140. No injuries were reported from the crash.

Logan and Sandra Austin were both arrested and taken to the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility where they are being held without bail on charges of Felony Eluding. Additionally, Logan Austin had a $20,000 warrant for his arrest.