Sunday, July 5, 2015

Speeding motorcyclist killed by Alaska State Trooper in 3-vehicle crash on the Seward Highway





JULY 4, 2015

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA

Alaska State Troopers have identified the trooper who struck a thrown motorcyclist, in a fatal crash which ended a pursuit on the Seward Highway Friday night.

According to a Saturday AST dispatch, Trooper Jeffrey F. Simpson -- a veteran of nearly 13 years with the force, based in Girdwood with the Alaska Bureau of Highway Patrol since 2011 -- was the trooper who hit 58-year-old Anchorage man Michael J. Kemper.

Troopers said earlier Saturday that Simpson began pursuing Kemper just after 7 p.m., when he saw a speeding motorcyclist headed south in the highway’s safety corridor at Mile 93 who “failed to yield to the trooper and rode on the shoulder of the highway between the guardrail and other southbound traffic.”
“Near Mile 91.5, the motorcycle collided with the back of a southbound 2009 Chevrolet Suburban that had pulled to the right shoulder to yield to (Simpson),” troopers wrote. “As a result, the motorcycle, a 2002 Yamaha model XV1700PC, and its rider were thrown into the southbound lane of travel and into the path of the trooper's vehicle, a 2013 Ford Taurus. At which time, the Taurus collided with the motorcycle and rider.”

Kemper was wearing a helmet, but died at the scene. Troopers say the driver of the 2009 Chevrolet Suburban -- identified Saturday afternoon as 33-year-old Anchorage man Michael P. Michelsohn -- was unhurt in the crash.

Greg Stafford, a driver on the highway that night, said he saw a motorcyclist pass him doing 65 or 70 mph, followed by a trooper vehicle traveling in the northbound lane. Stafford said he was about five cars behind the collision, so he heard but didn’t see it.

Stafford said at the scene Friday that chasing Kemper was dangerous due to the large number of people headed south on the highway for the Fourth of July, as well as the Girdwood Forest Fair and the Mount Marathon Race in Seward.

“Pursuing that way on July Fourth weekend, that was a major ingredient for the accident,” Stafford said. “I just hope that the trooper who hit (Kemper) wasn't taking the statements from all the people, because it just seems like that would be a definite conflict of interest. There was definitely a couple mistakes that were made.”

AST spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said Friday’s collision is the first of its kind in the agency’s history. There has been no change to Simpson's employment status, and he has not been placed on leave.

Ipsen said a previous decision to withhold Simpson's name for 72 hours, in accordance with the same policy which bars the immediate identification of troopers involved in on-duty shootings, was reversed after troopers decided the incident was different.
"This is not a use-of-force situation, so it's not being handled as such," Ipsen said.
The Seward Highway was closed for about six hours due to the crash, reopening at about 1 a.m. Saturday.

Kemper’s body was taken to the state medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. Ipsen said toxicology tests being performed to determine whether drugs or alcohol were factors in the collision.

Troopers ask anyone with information on the collision to call AST Sgt. Andrew Gorn at 907-373-8300.

Channel 2's Austin Baird contributed information to this story.