Man on sidewalk struck and killed by SUV, Anchorage police say

A man died Tuesday after being hit by an SUV when he was on a Cordova Street sidewalk, the Anchorage Police Department said. The SUV was stopped by police several blocks away and two women were taken into custody for questioning, police said.

Police were already in the area at East 12th Avenue and Cordova Street on Tuesday morning, where they had found a stolen vehicle with people inside.

As other officers were on the way to the stolen vehicle, they saw a black Ford Expedition driving recklessly, heading southbound on Cordova, police said.

At 12:07 p.m., the Expedition hit a man who was on the sidewalk between Ninth and 10th avenues on Cordova Street, police said. The man was wearing in-line skates and a black helmet when he was found.

The Expedition drove past officers who were at the stolen vehicle scene. One of the officers stopped it, and took the female driver and female passenger into custody, police said.

The deceased man's name had not been released as of Tuesday evening.

The stolen vehicle and pedestrian collision were two separate, unrelated incidents, police said.

A registered nurse said she and others attempted CPR on the man who was hit.

Lauren Brown, a registered nurse for 30 years, lives near the scene of the collision, she said. She was at home when she heard a loud screech from the road. Cordova is a busy street. At first she thought things were OK, she said.

But then, she heard a woman screaming "Help me! Help me!" Brown said.

Through an opening in her yard, Brown could see that something had happened on Cordova Street, she said. After that, everything seemed to happen in a flash.

She went over to the man, whose body was lying in the grass next to the southbound Cordova sidewalk. Brown knew his injuries were trauma-related. He didn't have a pulse.

"He was gone," Brown said.

Another neighbor came over to help, and for a few minutes they took turns administering CPR. Another woman helped give CPR, too, Brown said. Medics arrived quickly, maybe five minutes after Brown got to the scene, she said.

"I just went there to help. … We all should know to take care of each other," Brown said.