Man rescues toddler who fell out of an SUV in traffic

Anchorage police investigated the incident and said the 2-year-old girl was uninjured, but later in the day they arrested the man they said was driving the gray Ford Expedition on a charge of violating conditions of a bail release.

Randy Slone said he was on his way to his job at Grime Fighters Carwash on DeBarr Road when he heard car horns honking. Waiting at the DeBarr Road-Bragaw Street intersection, he looked up and saw "a baby right in the middle of the road," he said.

He said other witnesses saw the toddler fall out of the vehicle as it was making a turn at the intersection. Police confirmed that account.

Slone said he ran into the intersection and scooped up the crying baby. A woman got out of the SUV, which had stopped up the road, and took the baby from him, he said.

So how did the toddler fall out of the car?

Here's what Anchorage police said they were told during the investigation: a 5-year-old in the car unhooked the toddler's seatbelt and the toddler leaned on the door handle and opened it, said police spokesman Lt. David Parker.

After the mother retrieved her child, the driver of the SUV drove off, leaving the two at the intersection, Parker said.

A half-hour later, a 17-year-old male came back in the SUV claiming that he was driving the car during the incident but had to leave to go do something. He was the woman's son, according to Parker.

Parker termed it "a very suspicious story."

Prompted by his mom, the 17-year-old admitted to police that the real driver was Leroy Luafulu, 24. Luafulu had persuaded the teenager to go back to the accident scene and claim he was the driver, Parker said.

Luafulu was out on bail on a second-degree assault charge and the terms of his release required him to stay away from the mother and that he remain in the company of a third-party custodian, Parker said.

Police did not release the mother's name because she was a petitioner in a domestic violence case.

Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.