Sterling Highway crash kills mother and toddler

COOPER LANDING, Alaska (KTUU) – A 30-year-old woman and a 2-year-old boy were killed Friday when the car they were traveling in hit a concrete mixer truck on the Sterling Highway near mile 57.

According to Alaska State Troopers, around 1:30 p.m. 30-year-old Soldotna resident Sherika Hatten was driving a black 2008 Toyota Corolla southbound on the highway. Witnesses say the Toyota crossed the center line of the roadway and struck an oncoming concrete mixer semi truck that was traveling northbound. The concrete truck then slid down a nearby embankment bordering the Kenai River.

Hatten and her child, a 2-year-old boy, were pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the concrete mixer was not injured.

A lane of the Sterling Highway remained open for travel while investigators processed the scene, causing delays for hours. The Department of Environmental Conservation was also consulted to assist with remediation of fluids and fuels leaking from the vehicles in such close proximity the Kenai River.

Next of kin have been notified and the bodies of the deceased will be taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage.

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