An Anchorage police officer is recovering at home after a suspect allegedly discharged bear spray in his face early Tuesday morning, according to a statement from Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman Anita Shell.
A resident near the area of 15th Avenue and Cordova Street called police shortly after midnight to report sounds of a fight and calls for help from some bushes. When an officer arrived, he found only 25-year-old Joshua Chiskok, who “was acting fidgety,” according to Shell.
At some point, Chiskok pulled a can of bear spray out of his backpack and sprayed it in the officer’s face, Shell said.
“The officer and Chiskok wrestled to the ground where Chiskok tried to remove the officer’s firearm from its holster,” she wrote. “Backup officers arrived and used both a baton and a taser several times on Chiskok before he could be taken into custody.”
The officer was treated at the scene and sent home to recover from “the intense, heavy exposure” to the bear spray, Shell said. Chiskok was taken to a nearby hospital for an examination of minor injuries he suffered as a result of the scuffle with the officer, but was medically cleared.
Shell said Chiskok attacked the officer because he believed there was a warrant for his arrest and he wanted to avoid going to jail. She said he was charged with assault, resisting arrest and for misconduct involving a controlled substance for heroin he had at the time of his arrest.
He is being held at the Anchorage Correctional Complex under a bail of $2,000.
