Anchorage Man sentenced to 60 months in prison for assault on a federal officer

Anchorage, Alaska-U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that a man from Anchorage was sentenced here in federal court to prison for an assault on a Federal Officer.    

Kyle Scott Hansen, 26, from Anchorage, Alaska, was sentenced on July 23, 2013, by U.S. District Court Judge Sharon L. Gleason to 60 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release.  Hansen was also ordered to pay $78,310.44 to the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson for damage he caused.  Hansen had previously pled guilty to count one of an indictment charging him with assault on a federal officer.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Cavanaugh, who prosecuted the case, just after midnight on January 19, 2013, Hansen drove a blue GMC pickup truck through the Boniface Gate of the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (“JBER”).  When Hansen drove onto JBER, he was unauthorized to be on the facility and drove through a closed lane at the gate.  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.  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. 

Security police set up a roadblock in an attempt to stop Hansen and at the roadblock, Hansen drove his vehicle through an opening between a vehicle and a light pole.  While driving through this opening, Hansen struck a Senior Airman’s service rifle that he was holding and the rifle then struck the Senior Airman in the throat and caused him to fall down an embankment.  Hansen then continued through the now closed Boniface Gate causing significant damage to the gate.  Hansen was contacted and arrested later in the day in Eagle River, Alaska.  His vehicle was later recovered in the Airport Heights neighborhood of Anchorage on January 20, 2013.  The investigation revealed that prior to entering JBER, Hansen had consumed Coricidin D, a cold and flu medicine that Hansen used as a replacement for illegal drugs and alcohol.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Gleason was “troubled” by a “26 year old man who already has 4 prior convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol and one prior conviction for felony eluding”.  The Judge echoed Mr. Cavanaugh’s comments that Hansen has been fortunate to have not seriously injured anyone as a result of his prior impaired driving offenses.  Judge 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. 

Judge Gleason recognized that “protection of the public” was one of her main sentencing goals and that, “when intoxicated; Hansen was a danger to the community and the public needs to be protected from him.”

            Ms. Loeffler commended the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations at JBER and the Anchorage Police Department for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Hansen.