An Anchorage man will serve five years in federal prison and three more in supervised release, after driving his pickup truck through a gate at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in January.
U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler's office says that Kyle Hansen, 26, was also sentenced Tuesday by District Court Judge Sharon Gleason to pay $78,310 in restitution to JBER, following his guilty plea on charges of assaulting a federal officer.
In charging documents police said Hansen, who wasn't supposed to use drugs or alcohol due to probation conditions, had consumed the cold medicine Coridicin B on the night of Jan. 18. He then drove his blue GMC Sierra pickup truck through JBER's Boniface Gate at about midnight on Jan. 19.
"Once on JBER, Hansen ignored JBER security police attempts to conduct a traffic stop and continued driving through JBER at speeds up to 60 miles per hour," federal officials wrote in a statement on the case. "When Hansen reached the Government Hill Gate, he discovered it was closed and turned around and headed back towards the Boniface Gate and in the process of turning around, he damaged one security police vehicle."
During the ensuing chase, Hansen's truck struck a rifle held by an Air Force member manning a roadblock, Airman 1st Class Julio Camacho. The blow caused Camacho's weapon to hit him in the throat, and also knocked him down an embankment. Security forces at the roadblock and the Boniface Gate subsequently fired on the pickup in an unsuccessful attempt to stop it, hitting the vehicle without injuring Hansen.
Anchorage police found Hansen's truck, sporting several bullet holes and a flat tire, parked in Airport Heights on the night of Jan. 19. Hansen himself was arrested at an Eagle River home earlier that evening; at the time, authorities described him solely as a "person of interest."
According to Loeffler's office, Gleason described Hansen's record Tuesday -- including four prior DUI convictions and one for felony eluding -- as "troubling."
"Gleason also noted that the prior sentences Hansen had received as a result of his prior alcohol/driving and felony eluding convictions, had not served sufficiently as a deterrent to future behavior, given that the incident at JBER happened so soon after he had been released from jail for his most recent conviction," federal officials wrote.
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