Man on sidewalk struck and killed by SUV, police say

A registered nurse said she attempted CPR on a man who was hit by an SUV in downtown Anchorage on Tuesday afternoon, but was unable to revive him.

Anchorage police said the man was killed after being hit by a Ford Expedition just after noon Tuesday on Cordova Street between Ninth and 10th avenues. The man was on the sidewalk, and the SUV was seen "driving recklessly" and heading southbound, police said. The man was wearing in-line skates and a black helmet when he was found.

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.

[Anchorage police: Man dead after being hit by vehicle downtown]

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.

But Brown started CPR anyway. 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.

On Tuesday afternoon around 2:45 p.m., police cars were clustered on 13th Avenue. A tow truck was loading up the Ford Expedition. One woman sat in the back of a police car. A second woman stood on the street, talking to police.

Police said that the Ford Expedition had been southbound on Cordova, around noon. Officers called over the radio warning others about the car driving erratically.

The SUV hit the pedestrian at 12:07 p.m., police said.

Around 1:45 p.m., police took photos of the scene, and evidence markers were scattered along the road. The deceased man was covered in a white sheet.

Officers were already in the area for an unrelated incident involving a stolen vehicle, police said. They heard the radio call and saw the SUV being driven recklessly, police spokeswoman Renee Oistad wrote in an email, and the officers stopped the SUV.

"It all happened very quickly," Oistad wrote.

The investigation continued Tuesday afternoon, and no criminal charges had been filed, according to police. Cordova reopened just before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.