Driver kills pedestrian at Airport Heights Drive and Debarr Road in Anchorage, flees

A driver struck and killed a man walking at Airport Heights Drive and Debarr Road early Monday and drove away, Anchorage police said.

Patrol officers and Anchorage Fire Department medics responded at about 5:48 am to a report of an unresponsive adult man at the intersection. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A preliminary investigation found he was a pedestrian struck by a vehicle that then fled, according to the department's notice. The notice does not describe the vehicle or the driver.

Police will release the man's name after his family is notified.

Police ask anyone with surveillance footage of the area, or other information, who has not yet spoken with officers to call APD Dispatch at 3-1-1, option 1, or 907-786-8900, option 0.

The same intersection drew a police investigation in May 2023, when a bicyclist was hurt in a collision there, according to the Anchorage Police Department's archive.

In August, a driver struck and killed a woman at the Seward Highway and Benson Boulevard and did not stop. At an April hearing of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, the sponsor of a bill on fatal hit-and-run cases said about a quarter of Anchorage pedestrian deaths involve a driver who leaves the scene rather than giving aid.

A state health bulletin, Pedestrian Fatalities in Anchorage, 2016-2025, counted 92 pedestrian deaths in Anchorage over that decade. It recorded 15 in 2025, the highest annual total in the 10-year period, a rate of 5.18 deaths per 100,000 people. The deaths were most concentrated from August through October, between 11 pm and 2 am.

At the Oct. 20 Anchorage Assembly meeting, Chair Anna Brawley reported eight pedestrian deaths in the municipality so far this year. "Each incident is an individual story, but this continues a larger trend that has been well documented in the municipality and across the United States," Brawley said.

Late last month, Anchorage planners sought a $250,000 look at why traffic deaths haven't dropped. People walking or biking make up nearly half of those killed on the city's roads.