‘How can I help?’: Bystander relied on CPR training to save infant in fatal Glenn Highway crash

Stephanie Horton took a CPR class in late April that included how to resuscitate an infant.

Horton figured she’d never use that part of the course — until last week, when she found herself in the rain on the the Glenn Highway trying to save a baby’s life.

Horton was one of numerous bystanders who stopped to help in the aftermath of what the Anchorage Fire Department called a “horrific wreck” at the height of last Thursday’s morning commute.

Police say a northbound Ford F-150 driven by 73-year-old Robert Twito crossed the median into southbound traffic, colliding with a Kia Soul, a GMC Acadia and a Ford Explorer.

The driver of the Kia Soul, 37-year-old Donna Reisinger, was killed. Her 1-year-old son was critically injured, according to an online fundraiser started on behalf of Reisinger’s husband, Mathew Walsh.

There has been no official finding as to what may have caused Twito to veer into oncoming traffic in an area near the Anchorage weigh station known as the S curves. A police spokesperson this week said the collision remained under investigation.

Twito’s son, in an online fundraiser shared Monday, said his father’s death was due to “a presumed medical emergency.”

Horton said she didn’t want to discuss the specific details of last week’s crash, which she encountered moments after it happened.

She wanted to talk about the importance of getting trained in CPR.

“If I can help people, even if just one person goes and signs up for a CPR class after this, it’ll be worth it,” Horton said by phone Monday from her home in the Peters Creek-Chugiak area.

Last week, the 37-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran who owns a dog training business was on her way to her summer job with Welcome Anchorage Tours. The company requires employees take CPR training because of the remote locales they visit.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is an emergency procedure performed when someone’s heart stops beating. Bystander CPR can be critical to survival for people experiencing cardiac issues outside a hospital, but bystanders only perform CPR a little over a third of the time, according to a 2022 scientific statement from the American Heart Association.

Horton said she was headed south on the Glenn last Thursday morning when the taillights ahead turned red and traffic stopped.

“I saw somebody running down the middle of the road and I just knew I had to run as well,” she said. “I remember asking, ‘How can I help?’”

Horton said she realized later, after reviewing her dashboard camera footage, that the crash was so recent that no one had even taken stock of what had happened yet.

She saw a man pulling the child out of the Kia and saw where she was needed.

“We just jumped in immediately,” Horton said. They continued CPR until Anchorage firefighters arrived and took over.

Both Twito and Reisinger were pronounced dead at the scene of the collision, police have said. The child was taken to a hospital with injuries police described as life-threatening. Updates posted to social media Sunday indicated he was conscious and recognized his father.

Reisinger, a roller derby veteran, skated under the moniker “Hot Donna” with Rage City Roller Derby and worked with the nonprofit All Alaska Pediatric Partnership, which described her as “a person made up of kindness, generosity, enthusiasm, contagious silliness” who will be sorely missed.

Twito was a butcher “who loved his craft,” wrote his son, Dan. “He worked each day preparing food for his community while earning to provide for his family.”

The collision last week shut down the busy highway for nearly eight hours.

Horton said her recent CPR certification helped her react when she realized such a young child was involved.

She was CPR certified during her time in the Air Force but those courses didn’t include how to do the procedure on children, she said. That was also some time ago: She left the military back in 2018.

“I remember specifically going through the infant part and … thought, ‘This isn’t something I’m ever going to use.’ I’m not around infants. I don’t have kids at all. But because of that ..." she said Monday, recalling the April class. “I cannot imagine what it would have been like coming onto that scene and not being able to help. That would have absolutely been devastating.”

There are two main entities that offer CPR classes in Alaska, according to Taylar Sausen, a spokesperson for the American Red Cross of Alaska. Red Cross offers classes through contractors, Sausen said. The American Heart Association also offers classes.

Both programs include various levels of certification and cost, as well as in-person and online instruction. Some contractors offer group discounts.

Horton said she now thinks she got certified for a reason, and urges anyone else who’s able to get certified, to do so.

“You don’t ever want to be in the situation where you are the one to help — and you can’t," she said.