One person died early Friday in a single-vehicle rollover crash at Dimond Boulevard and C Street in South Anchorage.
Anchorage police said the vehicle rolled several times at about 3:30 a.m., struck a light pole and caught fire at the intersection. Besides the deceased occupant, there did not appear to be anyone else involved in the crash.
Chris Bracken said a four-door sedan went south on C Street at an extreme speed -- faster than responding police vehicles -- as he watched from the back porch of his second-story apartment on the west side of C Street near 76th Avenue. Trees blocked his view of what caused the accident, but Bracken said he heard tires skidding on gravel and then saw an explosion followed by a small, rolling fireball.
He said the burning wreckage continued through the intersection.
"It was pretty loud," said Bracken, adding that sounds echo easily along the stretch of C Street approaching Dimond. "There was no way anyone was living through that."
The intersection was completely or partially closed for more than six hours Friday morning. It was reopened around 10 a.m.
Bracken said the police response was almost immediate. There were multiple police vehicles on scene moments after the crash, he said.
He said he wakes up early to go to the gym and often sees cars speeding down C Street in both directions, but he'd never seen a car traveling as fast as the sedan.
"My first thought was this guy is going to kill himself," he said.
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