An Anchorage man was arrested Friday after a police officer witnessed him strike a pedestrian with his SUV then drive away.
A police officer responded to the intersection of Glenn Highway and Airports Height Drive around 6:30 p.m. and saw 35-year-old Kiona Laulu Jr. sit through a green light in his 2015 Chevy Suburban, the police department wrote in an online report.
The officer saw Laulu’s vehicle lurch forward and strike a woman walking through the intersection, police wrote. Laulu left the area at what police described as a slow rate of speed and he eventually stopped nearby on Mountain View Drive.
The pedestrian who had been hit “experienced pain to her leg,” police wrote, but she declined to be taken to the hospital.
Police said officers noted signs of impairment in Laulu and found empty beer cans in his SUV. He was arrested on charges of operating under the influence, third-degree assault, failure to stop and leaving the scene of an accident.
Four pedestrians have died this year after they were struck by vehicles. In January, a pedestrian died at the same intersection as Friday’s incident.