BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG

STAFF WRITER

A late evening car crash on East End Road knocked out Internet service for about 400 customers on April 1. 

Homer Police have charged a Homer woman, April Orleans, 26, with leaving the scene of an accident in relation to the crash.

According to a criminal complaint, police at about 11:10 p.m. received a report of an empty car that had hit an electrical pole on East End Road near the intersection of McLay Road. 

Homer Police Officer Jacob Ruebelmann responded. 

In his complaint, he said he found a Toyota van off the road resting against the pole. 

An Alaska Communications data repeater box was knocked off the ground by the van, causing customers to lose Internet service for the night. 

Ruebelmann didn’t see a driver at the van, but did find in the van a wallet with a driver’s license belonging to Orleans. 

Orleans came to the police station the next day to report the crash. She said she swerved to avoid a moose. A driver in a truck picked her up and took her home.

Ruebelmann said Orleans told him she was confused and had never been in an accident and so did not call police.

Michael Armstrong can be
reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.