Man interrupted in sex act assaults passerby with pipe
'HAVING FUN?' An offhand remark lands witness in hospital.

By Lucas Wall
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: June 15, 2002)
A 36-year-old man having sex with his girlfriend Thursday evening in a Spenard alley got upset at a passerby's remark and chased after him with a piece of pipe, striking him multiple times in the head, police said.

The victim ran inside a popular recreation equipment retailer, whose employees phoned for help.

Events began about 8:20 p.m. when Jerome King, 41, walked behind the Buckaroo Club on Spenard Road. King told police he saw a man and woman having sex in the alley and asked them, "Are you having fun?"

Police said Joseph Sivertsen responded by picking up a 2-foot-long piece of metal pipe from a nearby construction site and running after King. He is accused of hitting King at least six times with the pipe, causing severe bleeding and injury to his face, arms and hands.

Witnesses at Recreational Equipment Inc., 1200 W. Northern Lights Blvd., told police they saw Sivertsen hit King numerous times in the parking lot. King then ran into REI and the pipe ended up in the store somehow as well.

Manager Pete Citrano said the assailant ran off while an employee called police. A doctor who was shopping tended to King until medics arrived.

"It was just a shocker for everybody," he said. "But it was pretty low impact."

King was taken to Alaska Native Medical Center, where he was treated and released.

Police said they found Sivertsen walking south on Spenard Road. He was arrested on a second-degree assault charge and taken to Anchorage Jail, where he is being held in lieu of $20,000 bail.

Both men had consumed alcohol, said police spokesman Ron McGee. They did not know each other.

Sivertsen has three prior assault convictions, according to the criminal complaint against him.

"Spontaneous interruption of a public sex act to engage in an aggravated assault should be considered as a strong indication of a seriously unaddressed anger management problem," the complaint states.