Former Alaska State Trooper Sgt. Joseph Miller, 50, and Trooper Jason Woodruff, 43, were indicted by a federal grand jury last Tuesday, Dec. 16, on charges related to a Kenai arrest in May 2024. Both men are charged with federal criminal civil rights violations while serving in the line of duty.
Miller and Woodruff are accused of assaulting Ben Tikka, 38, whom they approached in a case of mistaken identity while trying to arrest his cousin last May. A complaint filed by the state attorney general in the Third Judicial District at Kenai in August 2024 says that the two troopers allowed a police dog to repeatedly bite Tikka and kicked him in the head and other parts of the body. Tikka was hospitalized with several broken bones, lacerations and open wounds following his arrest.
A Dec. 17 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Alaska, says that the two troopers “allegedly deprived a victim of his constitutional rights” while acting in their official capacity as law enforcement officials.
The indictment alleges that Miller and Woodruff “willfully deprived a victim of his right to be free from unreasonable seizures, which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer.” Specifically, according to the release, the indictment alleges that Miller tased, hit and kicked Tikka “without legal justification” and that the offense involved the use of a dangerous weapon, resulting in bodily injury to the victim. Further, Woodruff is alleged to have “unreasonably caused and directed” his police canine, Olex, to bite Tikka while he “did not pose a threat that warranted use of the police canine,” which also resulted in bodily injury to the victim.
Miller and Woodruff are each charged with one count of deprivation of rights under the color of law. If convicted, they each face up to 10 years in prison.
The release states that both men are scheduled to make their initial court appearances “on a later date” before a U.S. Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The federal charges are in addition to felony first-degree assault charges connected to the same incident and for which Miller and Woodruff were indicted by a Kenai grand jury in October 2024. Miller and Woodruff are currently slated to go to trial in 2026.
