Man arrested after deadly snowmobile attacks on dog teams in Alaskas Iditarod

A 26-year-old man has been taken into custody on suspicion of crashing his snowmobile into two Iditarod mushers early on Saturday morning.

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.

Demoski told the Alaska Dispatch News that he had not intentionally driven into the dog teams, but had blacked out after drinking in another village.

The arrest came after two veteran mushers in Alaska’s Iditarod told race officials on Saturday that a person on a snowmobile tried to drive the machine into their sled teams in apparent attacks that resulted in the death of one dog and injuries to three others.

The incidents occurred about 19km from the Nulato checkpoint, about 936 km into this year’s 1,570-km course, according to a statement posted on the race website.

A dog belonging to four-time champion Jeff King was killed when his team was hit from behind by a snowmobile, and two of his other dogs were injured, race officials said.

“It did not seem like an accident,” King said, adding that the driver never stopped or returned to the scene. “It felt like an intentional attempt to scare me.”

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.

The second driver, Ailey Zirkle, said she had been attacked in the same area by a person riding a snow machine who “repeatedly attempted to harm her and her team,” race officials said. One of her dogs sustained non-life-threatening injuries, the statement said.

The snow machine turned around several times and came back at Zirkle’s sled before driving off, according to a police report.

“I don’t know we ever thought of this happening, an aggressive move on mushers intentionally made, which is what this appears to be,” Karen Ramstead, an official at the Nulato checkpoint, said in a video clip posted on the race’s website.

Police believe the same person is involved in both incidents, according to its preliminary report. An investigation is continuing.

Both team were continuing with the race despite the incidents, the website said.

Some 85 mushers and their dogs set off on March 6 from the town of Willow, about a 144-km drive from Anchorage. Of those, only five have withdrawn from the race.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

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