The driver in a Seward Highway crash last month that resulted in one death and other injuries has been charged with six counts, including second-degree murder and manslaughter.
Back on July 23, Troopers received several reports of a blue Toyota Corolla driving erratically on the Seward Highway. An affidavit says the car was swerving all over the road, passing unsafely and nearly striking pedestrians. The car evaded multiple attempted traffic stops while heading northbound on the highway, where it was driving at speeds up to 100 miles per hour.
At mile 13, north of city limits, the driver lost control and struck another vehicle. The driver of that struck car was taken to the hospital in Seward for his injuries, and both passengers of the Corolla were ejected. Troopers said the driver was unresponsive and the passenger was awake but unable to move; both were flown to an Anchorage hospital for treatment.
The Sterling Highway was closed for six hours.
On Aug. 2, troopers said, the passenger Gregory Green died of brain injuries related to the collision. On Monday, 29-year-old Gideon Grady of Fairbanks was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, two counts of first-degree assault, and two counts of failure to stop at the direction of an officer. A trooper spokesperson said the two men were not related.
On Tuesday, Grady was arrested by troopers in Fairbanks, and taken to the Fairbanks Correctional Center. He was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in Fairbanks, and has a pre-indictment hearing scheduled for Aug. 24 in Seward.