Alaska Department of Public Safety James Cockrell announced on Aug. 15 that two Alaska State Troopers have been charged with misdemeanor assault, after a wrongful arrest they made in May, on the Kenai Peninsula.
One of the troopers is 49-year-old Joseph Miller, a 14-year employee of the Alaska State Troopers, who most recently served as a shift supervisor in Soldotna. He was charged with one count of Assault in the Fourth Degree. The other is 42-year-old Jason Woodruff, a 16-year employee of the Alaska State Troopers, who most recently worked as a K9 officer in Soldotna. Woodruff was charged with one count of Assault in the Fourth Degree.
According to court documents and a statement from Alaska’s Department of Safety, the Alaska State Troopers and Kenai Police Department responded to May 24 reports that a vehicle was parked in a public right of way and was registered to an adult male with an active misdemeanor warrant.
Officers who responded attempted to contact the occupant of the vehicle, Ben Tikka, but he remained hidden in the rear of the vehicle for several minutes and did not respond to orders.
At the time, the troopers believed the man had a warrant out for his arrest. Tikka disputed this claim and refused to exit the vehicle.
Trooper Miller then broke a rear window and pepper sprayed the inside of the vehicle, due to the Tikka’s refusal to exit.
When the Tikka began to exit the vehicle, however, he continued to defy directives. While troopers attempted to handcuff him, Miller placed his boot on the Tikka’s head, pushing it into the ground covered in broken glass. Miller used his taser multiple times while other troopers attempted to handcuff Tikka.
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Trooper Woodruff then deployed his K9 dog, just as Tikka appeared to be beginning to comply with commands from officers. Woodruff, however, continued to order the K9 to bite him.
Tikka was ultimately placed in handcuffs and provided first aid care by two other troopers until EMS arrived and took him to an area hospital for further treatment of significant injuries. A short time later, Troopers learned that the Tikka didn’t actually have a warrant out for his arrest and was not the person that they were looking for.
After Trooper supervisors reviewed the incident, and found possible policy violations regarding use-of-force and K9 deployment, Public Safety Commissioner James Cockrell ordered the Alaska Bureau of Investigation to conduct a criminal investigation. Once that was completed, the case was referred to the Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions for independent review and to determine if criminal charges should be filed. On August 14, the Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions filed criminal charges on both officers, in Kenai District court.
“The Alaska State Troopers hold ourselves to extremely high standards of conduct and accountability. Any allegation of criminal conduct by a Trooper or employee is aggressively investigated, so that we can hold the employee accountable for their actions, just as we would for any person accused of committing a crime in Alaska,” Commissioner Cockrell said in a prepared statement. “Let me be clear, the actions of these two individuals are not acceptable to me, not in line with our training and policy, and I know it is not acceptable to the Alaskans we serve. While today is an unfortunate day for the Alaska State Troopers, I hope Alaskans will continue to place their trust in the hundreds of Troopers who honorably serve Alaskans every day, by ensuring public safety across the state.”
18 Comments
Thank you for writing about this.
Pretty light charges for something so heinous. He didn’t assault them, so there is no excuse for violence.
How doe’s James Cockerell still have that job after the Mary Fulp debacle? Is White Lives Matter going to burn Soldotna? Do the police no longer have authority to detain suspected criminals? Be careful what you wish for. Anarchy ain’t what it’s cracked up to be.
“Commissioner Cockrell said in a prepared statement. “Let me be clear, the actions of these two individuals are not acceptable to me, not in line with our training and policy, ”
This is COMPLETELY in line with their training and policy and if you are an officer who is not on board with this type of abuse of power, you will be fired. This goes for the State Troopers and the Wildlife Troopers.
There can be no trust in these agencies until this abuse of authority is no longer the status quo. Cowards behind badges.
There is a current cultural war going on regarding police force and people refusing to comply with police orders. This is not going well. If we continue to degrade police resources and authority, we will fall deeper into the Hell of crime. Mr. Tikka needed to simply exit the car and cooperate. Fight police on the street, and you stand a high chance of being hurt, and that should be expected from everybody. Address the problem with the court peaceably, and you will not be hurt. This, too, should be expected.
I’m all for firing someone into compliance if they are fighting a trooper. I am NOT, however, into having a trooper use a civilian as a chew toy for his amusement. 4 th degree assault is too lenient. Should have been 3nd degree assault and battery, then, instant termination.
Over a decade being on the force for both. One a supervisor……Tell me we don’t have a systemic issue at AST…..
I do not get the lack of decision-making of those troopers. I took a public gun safety class one year and we got to use a simulator that presented us with different scenarios to see how well we did with situational awareness. Per the instructor, I had “acted too quickly” in one scenario. This was just in a public gun safety training class – I know that the troopers’ training is more extensive. I could understand (not acceptable though) one of them reacting too quickly; but, both of them acted too quickly in the situation. Has the state cut back on situational training and we are seeing the lack of training now?
While definitely there was some serious over reaction and misuse of force here by the state troopers, the victim is also an idiot. If he was innocent, if had no convictions or warrants, why did he behave as he did? As citizens, we do need to comply with law enforcement and if we are innocent it will quickly be determined. Respect does go both ways and the actions of Ben Tikka appeared to be those of a criminal trying to evade law enforcement. Troopers have to anticipate the unknown variables and expect a number of possible deadly responses. They had no idea what the guy might have under his shirt or in the back of the car. The use of canine force was though grossly unwarranted.
I whole heartedly support Constituional law and irder and its agents…but Free Citizens don’t have to comply with unlawful orders. He was clearly not being a violent threat to anyone and the warrant was for a non-violent issue. They got impatient and lost their proffesionalism and ethics. Nonsensical to say if you have nothing to hide you should just comply with unkawful orders.
We NEED elected Sheriffs for every borough!
Allow me to re-write this article…
Alaska State Troopers and Kenai Police Department responded to May 24 reports that a vehicle was parked in a public right of way and was registered to an adult male with an active misdemeanor warrant.
Officers who responded attempted to contact the occupant of the vehicle, Ben Tikka, but he remained hidden in the rear of the vehicle for several minutes and did not respond to orders.
Tikka refused to exit the vehicle.
Trooper Miller then broke a rear window and pepper sprayed the inside of the vehicle, due to the Tikka’s refusal to exit.
When the Tikka began to exit the vehicle, however, he continued to defy directives. While troopers attempted to handcuff him, Miller placed his boot on the Tikka’s head, pushing it into the ground covered in broken glass. Miller used his taser multiple times while other troopers attempted to handcuff Tikka.
Trooper Woodruff then deployed his K9 dog, just as Tikka appeared to be beginning to comply with commands from officers.
Tikka was ultimately placed in handcuffs and provided first aid care by two other troopers until EMS arrived and took him to an area hospital for further treatment of significant injuries. A short time later, Troopers learned that the Tikka didn’t actually have a warrant out for his arrest and was not the person that they were looking for.
Here’s an idea, just a thought really. When the nice man with a big gun asks you to get out of the vehicle, do so. Maybe you don’t have a warrant out on you. Maybe you do, and you don’t know about it. Either way, the only way to resolve the situation is to allow the man with the enormous gun to do his job without you being a douchebag about it. If there is confusion or mistaken identity, the only way it’s going to be sussed out is for you to not be an enormous twat.
The warrant was for his cousin for a failure to appear. Why are they acting so violently for a relatively minor, nonviolent charge? The Troopers were WRONG. And nothing you say will change that.
Mr. Tikka asked the nice officers for a heaping helping of whoop ass and they served it right up.
A “teachable moment” to be sure.
Psychopaths are everywhere. Perhaps there needs to be brain scans for everyone in a government position. Those showing a lack of certain brain development would be barred and removed from public service.
start with politicians then maybe the rest will fall in line
start with politicians then maybe the rest will fall in line
Now if he was a black man. These troopers would be behind bar.
We need an elected Sheriffs for each borough.