An Anchorage man was severely injured Friday on the Sterling Highway in Cooper Landing, during an SUV rollover which Alaska State Troopers say also wounded a passenger in the vehicle.
According to a Monday AST dispatch, members of the Bureau of Highway Patrol's Kenai Peninsula Team and other troopers were informed just after 3:45 p.m. Friday of the single-vehicle crash, near Mile 46 of the highway.
"Investigation revealed that Austin Stowell, age 25, of Anchorage was traveling southbound on the Sterling Highway in a 1995 Honda SUV and slid off the roadway into a rock embankment," troopers wrote.
AST spokesperson Megan Peters says both Stowell and another person in the vehicle, who wasn't immediately identified in the dispatch due to delays in notifying next of kin, were injured in the crash. Both were reportedly wearing their seat belts.
"(Stowell) lost control of the vehicle and it rolled," Peters said. "One person was initially pinned by the vehicle and had to be extricated."
Both Stowell and the passenger were taken to an area hospital by medics. Peters says the highway was briefly closed by the cleanup and investigation of the wreck, with troopers returning after the fact for further examination of the scene.
Alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation.
Editor's note: An initial reference to the rollover occurring in Copper Center has been corrected.