A vehicle sits in a ditch along Thane Road after the driver fell asleep on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018. The driver was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

A vehicle sits in a ditch along Thane Road after the driver fell asleep on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018. The driver was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Car crashes on Thane Road after driver falls asleep

Man taken to hospital, extent of injuries unknown

A man was heading out Thane Road on Tuesday when he fell asleep and drove off the road, authorities on scene said.

The 64-year-old Juneau man was taken to the hospital for evaluation of his injuries, Alaska State Trooper Nick Zito said on scene. Zito wouldn’t comment on the extent of the man’s injuries, but said the man was able to have a conversation with Zito after the crash. There was nobody else in the car, Zito said.

Zito was driving back from a call at about 4:09 p.m. when he saw the Ford Explorer in a ditch on the side of the road. The car had been heading outbound, away from downtown, and the car drifted across the center line and off to the opposite side of the road. It went off the road just before a retaining wall, Zito said, and kept going in the ditch for about 100 feet before coming to a stop.

Capital City Fire/Rescue and Juneau Police Department personnel came to the scene shortly after Zito came across the car, Zito said, and he called the response a “team effort.”

There were no signs that the man was impaired by drugs or alcohol, Zito said. As of about 4:45 p.m., responders on scene were waiting for a tow truck to arrive to take the car away.


• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.


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