A 31-year-old man on a bicycle was killed when he attempted a jump while descending a set of stairs adjacent to the Chester Creek bike trail, police said.
Police said Matthew Wayne Olsen was not wearing a helmet or any safety gear when he attempted the trick, which was witnessed by another biker sitting at the bottom of the stairs between Valley of the Moon Park and the trail tunnel that passes under Spenard Road.
Olsen's skull was crushed on impact. He lost consciousness immediately and was declared dead an hour later at Alaska Regional Hospital.
Olsen, originally from Aleknagik, had lived in Dillingham, and for the past couple of years had worked out of Anchorage. At the beginning of August, he finished his summer fishing job off the Aleutian chain and returned to Anchorage, said Sarah Andrews, who is the grandmother and care provider to Olsen's 10-year-old son and 5-year-old twin daughters in Aleknagik.
Aleknagik, population 220, is about 15 miles northwest of Dillingham.
Robert Christerson said in an interview Tuesday that he encountered Olsen on the stairs Saturday just after 8:30 p.m. Olsen was sitting next to his BMX-type bike, near the top of the stairs that descend to the Chester Creek Trail. Christerson, 41, was biking from downtown. Christerson carried his bike down the stairs, and the two men exchanged polite hellos.
At the bottom of the stairwell, Christerson sat down to smoke a cigarette. It had been raining that evening and he walked several steps up to sit on the relatively dry stairs.
Christerson said he looked up and saw Olsen mount his bike, then barrel down the steps going very fast. He said Olsen was coming right at him and it looked like he wanted to jump over him.
"He was showing off, doing a stunt," Christerson said. "It was a crazy, off the wall thing."
Christerson says Olsen either hit his head on his handlebars or the beam of the roof above the stairs. It all happened very fast, he said. "He must have flown 20 feet in the air, impacted and sprung around like a rag doll," Christerson said. "It was terrible."
Olsen landed on the bottom of the stairs and skidded onto the pavement.
Passers-by quickly came and called 911, while Christerson checked Olsen's fading pulse. A doctor who happened to be on the trail also helped in the minutes before the police and medics arrived.
Lt. Nancy Reeder, head of the Anchorage Police Department's traffic unit, said a helmet would have reduced or completely alleviated the injuries to Olsen's head.
Andrews said Olsen biked around Dillingham all the time when he lived there. She said he was always telephoning his children. "Always calling about his kids. Wanted me to give them a hug and kiss," she said.
Christerson wonders if he is responsible. He thinks maybe if he wasn't there, Olsen wouldn't have tried the jump.
"I hate to see a life go to waste," Christerson said.
Daily News reporter Megan Holland can be reached at mrholland@adn.com.
