Alaska State Troopers say Arnold Demoski of Nulato (noo-LAH-toh) is being held on two counts of assault, reckless endangerment reckless driving and six counts of criminal mischief.
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Demoski says he was drunk and didn’t know what he did untilhe sobered up. I kind of felt like a triage ambulance.It did not appear to be an accident, he said. “It seemed like an act of bravado and playing chicken”.
When asked if he thought he should go to jail, Demoski said he did, but hoped that he wouldn’t have to.
The incident prompted the Nulato Tribal Council to issue a statement Saturday, saying it was “disturbed and saddened” by the incident and offering condolences to the mushers.
A dog on the team of four-time champion Jeff King was killed. “He was a leader, a strong puller, & lovingly dedicated to his humans”.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska A man suspected of intentionally driving a snowmobile into teams of two mushers near the front of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was arrested Saturday in a Yukon River village. Zirkle was on the trail, heading to Nulato from Kokukuk, a run of about 20 miles (32.19 kilometres) along the Yukon River when she was struck, said race marshal Mark Nordman on Saturday. One of Zirkle’s dogs was also injured.
“Reportedly the snowmachiner made three separate attempts or passes at her including turning around several times”, official Danny Seavey said in a video for the Iditarod Insider. “She actually used one of the trail markers to defend herself”.
The same snowmobile approached her again 12 miles (19.31 kilometers) from Nulato but left. Organizers said the snowmobilers attempted to harm her and her team, with one of her dogs receiving a non-life threatening injury. He left Nulato at 7:14 a.m. Nash, a three-year-old male was killed, and Crosby, another three-year-old male and Banjo, a two-year-old male were injured and are expected to live. The crashes killed one of Kings dogs and injured at least two others.
She reported the incident to race officials and authorities were brought into the case.
“I was hit by a snowmachine”.
“He went by me at high speed”.
Alaskan mushers and their dog teams are celebrities in the north, and die-hard race fans can track their progress on Global Positioning System monitors.
A snowmobiler who said he was driving “blackout drunk” when he apparently struck and killed a sled dog competing in Alaska’s famed Iditarod has been arrested, according to multiple media reports. “I stood there as my dogs struggled in pain, with broken limbs and in the throes of death, for one of them”, King said.
Husky Homestead Tours, King’s kennel, wrote in a message to Channel 2 that their crew at home was sad about what happened but were thankful that it was not worse.
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The Iditarod Trail Committee said both racers will continue.
