Alaska State Troopers on Saturday arrested a 26-year-old man in connection with attacks on two musher teams taking part in the Iditarod dogsled race that killed at least one dog and injured three others.
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A statement from the Iditarod Trail Committee says the snowmobiler attacked racer Aliy Zirkle’s team and then Jeff King’s team later.
Demoski was charged with two counts of assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and six counts of criminal mischief, according to the AP.
Race marshal Mark Nordman said Saturday that Zirkle, 46, who finished second three times from 2012-2014, was mushing from Kokukuk (KOY’-yoo-kuk) to Nulato, a run of less than 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) on the Yukon River, when she was hit.
The snow machine turned around several times and came back at Zirkle’s sled before driving off, according to a police report.
One dog on Zirkle’s team was bruised in the separate incident.
A dog on the team of Aliy Zirkle (AL-ee ZUR-cul) also received what was described as a non-life-threatening injury.
King, a four-time Iditarod champion, was behind Zirkle.
King was trailing Zirkle and was hit by the snowmobile from behind, with at least three dogs hit and one, a three-year-old male, killed.
A video of King arriving in Nulato at 3:25 a.m.by Iditarod Insider shows King telling race officials that he’d had ‘big problems’.
About 12 miles out of Nulato, Jeff King’s team was also attacked by a snowmachiner.
Demoski’s snowmobile hit the dog team of Aliy Zirkle about 8km outside of Koyukuk. King reported that he was not injured. The crash happened early Saturday morning.
The suspect has not been identified yet. Crosby, another three-year-old male, and Banjo, a two-year-old male, received injuries and are expected to survive. She reached Kaltag at 10: 44 a.m., and after a nine-minute rest, left again in second place.
Zirkle was one of two mushers struck by the snowmobile.
He even said that King was among his favorites.
Demoski, a natural resources coordinator for the Nulato tribal council, told the newspaper it was not an intentional attack and apologized for the incident, saying he has always been a fan of the race and has waved homemade welcome signs at mushers in past years.
Demoski will be flown to Fairbanks where he will be held at the Fairbanks jail according to Alaska State Trooper Robert Nunley. “One was killed; one’s leg was broken, appears broken; and one is in serious condition with shock and impact”.
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The race leader is Brent Sass, who left Nulato at 3:43 a.m. His father, former champion Mitch Seavey, was in fourth place.
