Anchorage police say a pedestrian was fatally struck Monday at a busy Midtown intersection, just days after another was seriously injured in a hit-and-run in the same area.
Police spokesman Christopher Barraza said Monday’s collision, at about 11:30 a.m., occurred at Benson Boulevard and C Street. Police said the pedestrian, 79-year-old Gladys Graf, was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The driver remained on scene and the investigation is going, police said.
The collision comes two days after police say another female pedestrian was struck a few blocks east along Benson, at its intersection with the Seward Highway. The woman suffered life-threatening injuries in the collision at about 3 a.m. Saturday and was taken to a local hospital, where Barraza said she was still being treated Monday.
Barraza said police were preparing a description of the vehicle that witnesses reported struck the victim, then fled the scene. The collision closed the Seward Highway’s northbound lanes for more than six hours Saturday.
So far this year, Anchorage drivers have fatally struck eight pedestrians. One of them, 53-year-old Evan Larson, Jr., was killed April 1 moments after a vehicle struck a dog at the same intersection as Saturday’s hit-and-run.
