Meanwhile, a 26-year-old man was set to appear in court Sunday afternoon following his arrest Saturday on allegations he intentionally drove a snowmobile into the teams of two other top mushers, Aliy Zirkle and Jeff King. A few hours behind Zirkle, musher Jeff King’s team was hit from behind by a snowmachiner.
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Alaska State Troopers say Arnold Demoski of Nulato is being held on two counts of assault, reckless endangerment reckless driving and six counts of criminal mischief.
One dog was killed and three others were injured in the incident, in which two veteran mushers told race officials that a person driving a snowmobile tried to drive the machine into their sled teams. Zirkle was left unscathed, though one of her dogs was bruised in the encounter.
King said the trail was 12 metres wide at the point of contact, and he and his team wore reflectors and lights to enhance their visibility. Demoski said he didn’t realize what he had done until he heard what happened and inspected his snowmobile.
This undated photo provided by Husky Homestead shows Crosby, a dog that was injured when a man drove a snowmobile into teams of two mushers near the front of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Saturday in Alaska.
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.
The snowmobile then reappeared outside of Nulato where King ‘s team was struck from behind by the snowmobile. He revved up and was pointed at Zirkle before leaving, Peters said.
CNN affiliate KTUU spoke with Demoski, who told the Anchorage station that he was regretted being out. He said he wanted to check to make sure she was OK.
At the time of the attack, Zirkle was running third in the race on the trail out of Galena with King just behind. While officials initially said that King also sustained injuries, he later said that Demoski’s snowmobile had missed both him and his sled.
“I’m really bad”, she told race judge Karen Ramstead as she began checking in.
Nash, a 3-year-old male, was killed.
A dog on the team of Aliy Zirkle also received what was described as a non-life-threatening injury.
Both mushers are okay, but one dog was killed and at least three others were injured. “It felt like an intentional attempt to scare me”. He added that it did not seem like an accident, but like “an act of bravado”.
“I knew it was me right off the bat”, he said (via the L.A. Times). “I hope they can forgive me”.
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King remained in Nulato early Saturday afternoon. She reached Kaltag at 10: 44 a.m., and after a nine-minute rest, left again in second place. Two-time victor Mitch Seavey, Dallas’ father, was first into Shaktoolik but stayed 2 hours and 53 minutes at the checkpoint and returned the trail in fourth place.
