A two-vehicle crash involving a downtown Bullwinkle’s Pizza Parlor delivery man caused a 45-minute traffic obstruction in one lane of the Douglas Bridge on Friday afternoon.
Juneau Police Sgt. Sterling Salisbury said the delivery person took a very wide right turn onto the bridge from Egan Drive. His red Ford Focus ended up in the opposite lane and collided head-on with an oncoming car. Salisbury said both cars were totaled, though the manager at Bullwinkle’s disputed this, saying that the Ford Focus did not look irreparably damaged. No injuries were reported.
Earlier in the afternoon, a bystander called into JPD about the delivery driver after they noticed him “swerving back and forth on the roadway erratically” said Lt. Krag Campbell. Officers stopped the man in front of Bullwinkle’s but found “no signs of impairment,” Campbell said.
Annie Bartholomew, a KTOO employee, happened to be on her way into the State Office Building around 11:45 a.m., when she noticed the officers talking to the delivery man.
“They were just kind of questioning him,” she said. “He had his red polo on and some pizzas there with his red car. … Looked like he was going out to make a delivery.”
About 20 or 30 minutes later, after officers let the man go without issuing a citation, Bartholomew said she saw him again after he delivered pizzas to the KTOO office on the corner of Whittier Street and Egan. “I was walking into the KTOO parking lot, I see this red vehicle kind of driving erratically, a little bit faster than is safe in a parking lot, I think,” she said. “And it was the pizza guy! It was the same guy in his red polo.”
Salisbury said the crash was reported shortly after, at 12:35 p.m. Officers who responded to the scene administered a field sobriety test to the delivery man, which he passed. The driver told officers that he had had some vehicle problems, and was issued a citation for negligent driving.
