Two Akiachak men were arrested after threatening or attacking tribal police officers on April 1.
Alaska State Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters confirmed Monday that the two unidentified officers were responding to separate cases.
In the first reported case, a TPO was taking an intoxicated Jacob Wassilie, 45, into protective custody at the local police facility, Peters explained. At some point, Wassilie allegedly elbowed the officer in the ribs and then strangled the officer. Wassilie was eventually subdued and arrested.
He faces a single charge each of second- and fourth-degree assault, the reporting trooper wrote in an online dispatch. Online court records note that the second-degree assault charge has a stipulation that Wassilie intended to cause harm to the officer by using some sort of weapon.
Rather than being held at the local jail, Wassilie was incarcerated at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Correctional Center.
The other incident occurred at a village home, Peters confirmed. According to a dispatch, a TPO came into contact with 39-year-old Ken Pasitnak, who “had been drinking and pointed a rifle in the direction” of the officer.
“Ken handled the rifle in such a way that the responding Tribal Police Officer perceived a threat from Ken,” the reporting trooper wrote. “The officer rushed at Ken and knocked the rifle out of his hands and off the porch he was standing on.”
The officer arrested Pasitnak and charged him with third-degree assault and fourth-degree misconduct involving a weapon.
Like Wassilie, Pasitnak was booked at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Correctional Center.
Peters noted that while both men were intoxicated during the alleged crimes, Akiachak is a dry village, meaning the sale and transportation of alcohol is banned within city limits.
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