A driver accused of fatally striking a cyclist Thursday night in South Anchorage now faces multiple charges in the collision, according to police.
According to an updated statement officers arrested Stephanie Dill, 40, after the collision on the 6300 block of C Street just south of West Dowling Road. She is accused of manslaughter, DUI, refusal to submit to a chemical test, reckless driving and bribery.
Police spokesman Christopher Barraza said police were notified of the collision just before 9:15 p.m. Thursday.
“We had multiple calls for a pedestrian that was hit by an SUV,” Barraza said.
Police said Dill’s Mazda SUV struck a man riding a bicycle who died at the scene. He hasn’t yet been named by police as they notify his family.
According to a charging document against Dill, police got a report just before the collision of an SUV leaving a Dimond Boulevard restaurant then heading north in C Street’s southbound lanes. A review of traffic cameras showed the SUV swerving across the median in the moments before impact.
“The bicyclist was observed riding on the paved shoulder of the east side of C Street,” police said in the document. “The Mazda drove off the road, striking the bicyclist, before swerving left and crossing the median into the southbound lanes, then the brush and grass on the west side of the roadway.”
Dill, who was still at the wheel of the SUV, allegedly refused to perform sobriety tests and told officers to “just arrest” her. She was taken to the Anchorage Correctional Complex for booking.
“Following arrest and during transport to the Anchorage Jail, Dill told the arresting officer that she would give him $1,000 if he dropped her off down the street and ‘acted like nothing happened,’” police said in the document. “The officer asked Dill to repeat herself, and Dill assured him that she had $1,000 cash on her and would give it to him.”
At the jail, Dill allegedly refused to provide a breath sample. Police obtained a warrant to seize a blood sample and did so, before she was held at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center. Police said Dill provided a breath sample at Hiland about five hours after the crash of .178 – nearly twice Alaska’s legal limit for driving of .08.
Dill was still being held at Hiland Friday. Court records showed her set to be arraigned Friday afternoon.
This is Anchorage’s second person killed by a driver this month, after a June 2 vehicle-pedestrian collision farther north along C at Benson Boulevard. So far this year, Anchorage drivers have struck and killed nine people on local roads.
