The effort to spike the Fort Richardson exit was futile. Esper passed it long before Wollam and the second officer got there.
Wollam and Esper should have passed each other, flying in opposite directions with four lanes and a median between them. But shortly before the big S curve, halfway between the Fort Richardson exit and the Eagle River Loop exit, Esper crossed the median into the Anchorage-bound lanes and continued barreling toward Eagle River.
He had gone less than a mile when a white vehicle appeared, traveling at proper speed in the correct direction, police said. Investigators theorize that Esper swerved to his left to avoid hitting the white vehicle just as Wollam came around the curve.
"Both appeared to try to take evasive action," Monegan said. "They saw each other too late."
The officer in the second car witnessed the collision but was not injured, Monegan said.
The dead, in addition to Wollam and Esper, were identified as Makayla Lewis, 16, and a 14-year-old girl whose name was not released because her next of kin had not yet been notified, McGee said.
A third passenger, Savanah Fielding, 15, was thrown from the Blazer, suffering a fractured skull and broken ankle, Monegan said. She remained hospitalized in critical condition Monday night.
The southbound side of the Glenn remained closed for most of the rush hour, with incoming commuters diverted in crawling streams around the crash site.
"This is a tragedy not only for the Police Department but for the families of the occupants of the other car," Monegan said at a press conference later Monday morning.
He said police don't anticipate charging the three passengers who got out of the Blazer in town.
"They wanted out. . . . They were trying to use their common sense," he said.
Police identified only one of the three: Travis Barrett, 19, who was taken into custody on three old warrants, including driving without a valid license.
Monegan said police would like the driver of the white vehicle, described as a sedan or van, to help reconstruct exactly what happened. That driver is not considered at fault in any way, Monegan said.
Monday's collision was a worst-case example of the Catch-22 that police face when dealing with a fleeing motorist driving erratically and endangering others on the road, Monegan said. Police have to make a fast choice. Do you let someone continue to drive until you corner him or he realizes he can't get away or might run out of gas? Or do you chase him in a way that makes him drive even faster and more dangerously?
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about one-third of the people who end up dead after a high-speed police pursuit are innocent bystanders. In 1999, for example, 318 people died nationally as a result of police pursuits. Of those, three were police officers in pursuit; 212 were in a vehicle being chased, and 103 were bystanders.
Reporters Lisa Demer, Zaz Hollander and Peter Porco contributed to this story. Sheila Toomey can be reached at
[email protected] or 907-257-4341.