The two Alaska State Troopers charged with fourth-degree misdemeanor assault for their alleged conduct during a Kenai arrest in May both were arraigned at the Kenai Courthouse on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Both Joseph Miller Jr., 49, and Jason Woodruff, 42, are accused of assaulting Ben Tikka, 37, whom they approached while trying to arrest his cousin early on May 24, according to a complaint by the State Attorney General filed in the Third Judicial District at Kenai on Aug. 14.
The complaint says that the two troopers, while trying to arrest Tikka’s cousin, allowed a police dog to repeatedly bite Tikka and kicked him in the head and other parts of the body. The complaint says Tikka was hospitalized with several broken bones, lacerations and open wounds.
Both Woodruff and Miller on Tuesday submitted not guilty pleas to the charges against them. Neither are in custody as both were only issued summons for the charges against them. The charges are only misdemeanors, rather than felonies, because the state says that a dangerous instrument wasn’t used and Tikka didn’t sustain serious physical injury.
A memorandum submitted on Sunday by Woodruff’s attorney, Clinton Campion, called for Woodruff to remain out of custody without requiring any bail. That’s because, he wrote, of his long residency on the Kenai Peninsula, his long career with Alaska State Troopers, and because he has no criminal history — not “even a traffic violation.”
Judge Kimberly Sweet agreed with the terms, adding as conditions only that Woodruff must not break any laws and must not have contact with Ben Tikka. Those conditions were requested by the prosecution, Daniel Shorey.
The same conditions were approved for Miller. His attorney, Matthew Widmer, said similarly that Miller has no criminal history.
Both sets of conditions of release were opposed by attorney Darryl Thompson, who said he’s representing Tikka. Thompson said that Tikka sustained “life changing injuries to his body” during the May arrest, which he said resulted in $41,000 in medical expenses. That was compounded, he said, by then spending 18 days in jail for charges that were later dropped.
Thompson called for a performance bond to be required of both Miller and Woodruff, but Sweet said that after reviewing the bail schedule and noting both trooper’s lack of criminal history, she would not make that move.
Both troopers are set for pre-trial conference at the Kenai Courthouse on Oct. 3, with trials tentatively scheduled for Nov. 12 before Judge Martin Fallon.
Campion, on behalf of Woodruff, has also submitted a motion to dismiss the assault charge. He writes in the motion that Woodruff’s actions in deploying the police dog against Tikka were “reasonable” because Tikka failed to exit his vehicle and immediately surrender, also that Woodruff believed Tikka might attempt to flee.
The argument by Campion cites two cases brought before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals — from Los Angeles, California, in 1994, and Gilbert, Arizona, in 2021. In those instances, Campion writes, the court found the use of police dogs to be “objectively reasonable” in the face of allegations of excessive force.
That motion was not considered during the arraignment, and an evidentiary hearing is not currently scheduled.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
