ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska State Trooper alerted by a 911 cellphone "hang up" call was able to find a Wasilla man who had plunged off the Sterling Highway down a 40-foot ravine.
Trooper Joseph Miller early Friday morning went looking for someone in trouble in an area known to have poor cellphone reception.
He noticed a disturbance in the snow near Mile 62 and stopped.
Troopers' spokeswoman Megan Peters says Miller heard cries for help.
At the bottom of the ravine he found 36-year-old Jason Wallace, who had suffered a leg injury and had tried unsuccessfully to call for help on his phone.
Trooper Miller warmed Wallace with a parka until an ambulance arrived.
Wallace was treated at Central Peninsula General Hospital in Soldotna for the leg injury and exposure.
Comments (2)
Add commentOur Troopers are top notch!
Our Troopers are top notch! Great job!
Give him a BIG feather!
Probably isn't his first feather, and SO much goes untold. Great story and how about the operator locking and loading on the first signal, go girl. Tracking it as East of Sterling was to cool. I think requiring Cell Operators to provide this sevice allong our highways shouldn't be based on if it pays them! It should be a required coverage area as they want the rest of our business, how about a little REAL service for that licence to print money! You want to provide coverage for the town, then coverage for the major highways into that town should be Required! That's communications at work, keep our Troopers in your prayers, never know when you'll NEED one.