Five people went to the hospital after a three-car crash at the Auke Bay roundabout on Wednesday evening, according to a Juneau Police Department press release, three of the people suffering serious injuries.
At about 5:07 p.m. Wednesday, multiple people called JPD to report a crash at the roundabout, and to report that three pedestrians were injured, according to the release. When police and Capital City Fire/Rescue arrived on the scene, they found a City and Borough of Juneau Harbors employee helping to secure the area, the release states.
Police found that a 2016 Jeep Wrangler had been driving inbound on Glacier Highway through the roundabout when it stopped for pedestrians who were crossing the road. A green 2003 Subaru Forester, driven by an 89-year-old woman, was approaching from behind the Jeep, but didn’t stop, police say. Instead, the Forester drove up over the sidewalk on the water side of the roundabout, and hit two pedestrians — a 48-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman — according to the release.
The Forester kept going through the roundabout, police say, and collided head-on with a 2018 silver Subaru Crosstrek. The impact pushed the silver Subaru backwards, and the car hit a 52-year-old man who was walking on Glacier Highway, according to the release.
The Forester spun out of control at that point, police found, and hit a bronze 2014 Toyota pickup that was waiting to pull out of Auke Bay Harbor Road.
The drivers of both Subarus were taken to the hospital, along with the three pedestrians. Some of the injuries were serious, according to the release, but none were life-threatening.
Bartlett Regional Hospital spokesperson Katie Bausler said the 38-year-old woman pedestrian suffered two broken legs and was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The 89-year-old driver of the Forester broke her arm and was in stable condition at BRH as of Thursday afternoon, Bausler said. The 52-year-old male pedestrian suffered a dislocated hip, Bausler said, and he was also in stable condition at the hospital as of Thursday afternoon.
The roundabout was closed for about an hour and a half while CCFR provided medical services and JPD investigated the crash. No citation has been issued yet, according to the release, and the investigation is ongoing.
CCFR Assistant Chief Ed Quinto, who responded to the scene, said in an interview Thursday that the crash capped off an extremely busy day. There were 23 calls during the day, he said, and 12 of those came between 1 and 5 p.m. They had just finished responding to a different call when they got the call about the Auke Bay crash, Quinto said. If the crash had happened a little bit earlier, he said, the department would have been short-staffed.
“It took all of our available resources in the city,” Quinto said.
The Forester and Crosstrek sustained an estimated $10,000 and $8,000 of damage, respectively, and both were towed from the scene, according to the release. Damage to the Toyota truck was estimated at about $2,000, and it was driven away from the scene, police say.
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
