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JUNEAU POLICE DEPARTMENT

6255 ALAWAY AVENUE JUNEAU, ALASKA 99801
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INFORMATION RELEASE

Subject: Fatality Motor Vehicle Crash - 22 Mile Glacier Highway - Updated 11/22/19
Date: 2019-11-21
From: Erann Kalwara - JPD PIO
Case or Incident: #191121-002
Summary:

Update 11/22/2019 5:00pm

Members of the JPD Major Accident Response Team and JPD detectives have established further information regarding yesterday’s crash. It appears that the vehicle was traveling inbound on Glacier Highway at a high rate of speed when it went off the roadway, striking and shearing off a 10-foot section of a power and cable pole. The vehicle then struck an embankment, went airborne, flipped end-over-end approximately twice, traveling about 60 yards from the initial point of impact with the pole before coming to a stop.

Both passengers that died on scene were thrown from the vehicle. The female involved was 19 year old Juneau resident Abigail Kelley. The 15 year old juvenile male’s name is not being released. Autopsies will be performed on both Kelley and the juvenile by the State Medical Examiner’s Office.

As of 3pm today, the driver is in critical condition and is medically unstable. The surviving passenger is in critical but stable condition. Both are receiving treatment at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington.

Alcohol and speed both appear to have been factors in the crash. The investigation is ongoing.

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Update 11/21/2019 2:00pm

The families of the 19 year old male driver, 18 year old male passenger, 19 year old deceased female and 15 year old deceased male have been notified of the incident.

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At 6:53am on November 21st, 2019, a 9-1-1 call was received from a woman reporting a serious vehicle crash near Cohen Drive on Glacier Highway. The caller reported a female was laying outside of the vehicle and was not breathing. The caller initiated dispatch-assisted CPR on the female.

Additional passersby’s stopped at the scene and located an unconscious male in the driver’s seat slumped over a deployed airbag, second person inside the vehicle that appeared to be unconscious and a fourth person outside of the vehicle who was unconscious and not breathing. Chest compressions were initiated on the male found outside of the vehicle.

JPD and CCF/R arrived on scene and determined that the female and male found outside of the red GMC SUV were deceased. The GMC was on the shoulder of the roadway near the tree line and had sustained substantial damage. It appeared that the vehicle struck a power pole.
CCF/R extricated both men that were inside of the vehicle and transported them emergently to Bartlett Regional Hospital. Both males were later medevaced out of Juneau for further medical treatment.

The investigation is continuing.

All factual allegations contained in this release are based upon preliminary investigation and are subject to change or clarification as the investigation continues. Any charges reported in this release are merely accusations and all persons named in this release are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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