The collision that badly injured 18-year-old Tevin George early the morning of July 20 was the latest in a string of hit-and-run wrecks over the past two years that left Anchorage pedestrians either dead or badly hurt.
The most recent incident, along Huffman Road near the Seward Highway, is at least the fifth since since 2011. In two of the cases, drivers haven't been charged.
• Early the morning of June 1, April Merculief and Nicholas Philemonoff were walking in a parking lot along International Airport Road, between Arctic Boulevard and C Street, and were run over by a stranger driving a red SUV, according to police. Both were hurt; she spent more than a week in critical care. No arrest has been made.
• In September 2012, Zachary Mohs, 27, lost a leg and suffered traumatic brain injury after he was hit by a car near the corner of Tudor Road and Arctic Boulevard. The driver, Luke Jerde, 20 at the time, driving a red Pontiac Fiero, was arrested a month later. He is awaiting trial.
• In October 2011, Geraldine Burns was killed by a hit-and-run driver on Penland Parkway in front the Northway Mall. She is believed to have been alone when she was hit. Police think she was killed by someone driving a 2002-2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee, possibly of a light color. No arrest has been made.
• In April 2011, early the morning of Easter Sunday, Hubert Tunuchuk, 28, was killed as he walked with friends along Tudor Road above the Seward Highway. Tunuchuk, from the western Alaska village of Chefornak, had been attending vocational school in Seward and was in Anchroage visiting. The driver, Ashley Bashore, 19 at the time, initially told a friend she had hit a dog, according to the charges. She pleaded guilty to charges that included criminally negligent homicide, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison under a plea agreement approved earlier this year.
-- David Hulen, Anchorage Daily News / adn.com
Anchorage Daily News / adn.com