Hitchhiker's death ruled accidental

WASILLA — The death of a hitchhiker along a road last year has been ruled an accident.

David Beard, 31, of Palmer, died after being struck by a truck at about 10 p.m. on Oct. 14, 2014 near the Alaska State Fairgrounds. A 41-year-old Palmer woman was driving and has not been charged with any crime.

Officers with the Palmer Police Department spent more than a year reviewing the case, and ultimately were unable to find any evidence contradicting the woman’s account of the collision that night, according to Palmer Police Chief Lance Ketterling. The driver told authorities Beard was in the roadway when she struck him, Ketterling said.

Officers interviewed multiple witnesses, and reviewed a cell phone video of Beard hitchhiking along the Glenn Highway shortly before the collision. They checked toxicology reports for both the driver and Beard, and looked at cell phone records to ensure there were no text messages sent by the driver at the time of the collision, Ketterling said.

“There was no evidence to support anything other than an accident or a very unfortunate circumstance,” he said. “There was no evidence to prove he was on the roadway. There’s the shoulder of the road, and then the highway. He could very well have been in the roadway.”

Beard was not wearing reflective material at the time of the collision, Ketterling said.

In order to avoid injury or death while walking, pedestrians should “wear bright clothing, reflective clothing,” he said. They should stay “as far from the roadway as possible.”

Pedestrians should also consider lights, provided they don’t shine into area roadways, Ketterling said.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.