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Narrator: In the Alaskan backchannels,
troopers hunt down a hostile fisherman.
Trooper Cresswell: Hey, hey!
He almost center punched me.
Narrator: And take the dangerous game of
cat-and-mouse to the skies.
Radio: This is obviously not a safe situation.
Trooper Garcia: A lot of us would say this is
what we signed up for.
Narrator: And deep in the Alaskan bush,
an outgunned Trooper Bill Connors battles
an arsenal of illegal weapons on the streets.
Trooper Connors: In the last seven days I've had
seventeen rifles, shotguns, a machete and a crossbow.
Yeah, that's quite a few.
Narrator: And in Fairbanks.
Dispatch: He heard a male scream that he was
going to blow somebody's head off.
Narrator: Trooper Ryan Lott must track down
a gunman hidden in the forest.
[distant gun shots]
Trooper Lott: Whoa, whoa whoa!
Trooper: Let me see your hands!
Narrator: This is Alaska State Troopers.
Trooper: Drop the gun, drop the gun!
Drop the gun!
Drop it now!
Drop the gun!
Narrator: It's summertime in Fairbanks,
when days last almost twenty-four hours,
and crime rates rise; even at 1:00 AM.
Dispatch: We just got a 911.
Somebody saying they heard multiple shots in the air
and a lot of screaming.
While dispatch was on 911, we also heard shots.
Trooper Lott: 10-4, 10-19.
Did they say if it sounded like someone in distress or?
Dispatch: Unknown.
Trooper Lott: Not really sure what's going on
but it could be potentially dangerous, so.
We're gonna treat it as the worst case scenario.
Dispatch: Units, also, our complainant on 911
now advised us he heard a male screaming that
he was going to blow somebody's head off.
Trooper Lott: Okay.
I'm going to pop this rifle out, in a minute, so.
Narrator: There's no sign of their suspect,
but they do find his handiwork.
Trooper Worland: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Oh, and a shotgun in the mail box.
Trooper Lott: Yup.
That's a round, looks like a buckshot.
Trooper Worland: Yeah it's a buckshot round.
That's one of his rounds.
I don't know, looks to me like he's shooting in the
direction of the building.
Trooper Lott: A second one.
Hi sir, State Troopers.
How many shots did you hear, you think?
Couple?
Witness: At least a dozen.
Trooper Lott: It was him yelling, too?
Witness: Yeah.
Trooper Lott: Okay, but you didn't hear
anybody else yelling, just him?
Witness: No, that's what I'm saying.
No one else was yelling back.
Trooper Lott: Okay.
Trooper Worland: We'll check it out, man.
Witness: Good luck.
Narrator: Troopers fan out deeper into the densely
forested neighborhood in search of a hidden gunman.
Trooper Lott: There's two cabins in the back, too.
It's not a good feeling when you're not
sure exactly where they are.
You know, one of those rounds could shoot high,
go through those trees, maybe skip off the
river and hit someone.
So that's pretty serious.
[gunshot]
Trooper Worland: I'm going to have you
stand back over here a little bit.
[gunshot]
Let me see your hands!
Drop the gun, drop the gun!
Drop the gun!
Drop it now!
Drop the gun!
Step forward, step forward!
Get on the ground!
Trooper: Don't you move!
I'm going, cuff em.
Who else is here?
Trooper Johnson: State Troopers, open up.
Trooper: Watch the window, watch the window.
Trooper 2: We didn't clear that house yet.
Trooper Worland: 56, check all perimeters.
Trooper: Watch your crossfire.
State Troopers.
Clear.
Trooper 2: Res' is clear.
Suspect: Hey Troopers, get the (bleep)
out of my (bleep) yard.
It's my (bleep) house.
That gun is fully loaded.
Think you'll try to kill me?
So (bleep) that you know.
I don't (bleep) around like that.
Trooper Worland: Have a seat!
Suspect: (bleep) you!
Trooper Worland: Have a seat!
Trooper: You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you
in a court of law.
You have the right to an attorney and lawyer.
Suspect: La, la, la, la, la!
I know all that (bleep), (bleep).
So get them out of my (bleep) face then.
Then get out of my (bleep) face or I'm gonna
flip the (bleep) out!
Trooper: I'm going to bring my car around to
put him in the back of the car.
Suspect: (bleep) shoot me,
watch what the (bleep) happens.
(bleep) you all, (bleep)!
I'm not saying another (bleep) word.
(bleep).
Trooper Worland: Sounds like,
based on the level of his intoxication,
he probably didn't know what he was shooting.
Trooper Lott: How drunk is he?
Trooper: He's blitzed.
Suspect: Somebody shot at me first (bleep)!
Narrator: 400 miles from the nearest major city,
on the waterways of Western Alaska,
Sergeant Ken Acton and Trooper Mike Cresswell must
reign in some potentially volatile fishermen.
The king salmon fishery's just been closed and some of
the native Yupik fishermen won't play by the rules.
Trooper Acton: This is their way of life.
And they need that fish to sustain them
through the winter.
Unfortunately we have a King Salmon population
that is decreasing substantially and
that makes closures for subsistence fishing.
Narrator: Troopers expect resistance on the water,
so they bring in Trooper Cresswell
to lend a second set of eyes and
muscle from the sky.
Trooper Cresswell: Contacting people on the water,
it's more dynamic than doing a conventional
traffic stop on land because everything is
moving and you're in a marine environment.
I mean, it's a potentially hostile environment.
Narrator: But just as Cresswell readies for takeoff,
an out of control boater almost collides
with his plane.
Trooper Cresswell: Hey, hey, hey, hey!
I have got to follow that boat.
Unbelievable.
He almost center punched me.
Hey, hey, hey!
Yeah.
He's on the main channel, he's right there.
I'm not sure what he's doing.
As you can see the boat is
maneuvering very erratically.
It's kinda done a couple of zigzags.
The bow is very high as you can see there.
It's pretty erratic.
Narrator: He gives chase,
but suddenly,
the boat turns down a smaller slough,
leading to a maze of escape routes.
Trooper Cresswell: They took off;
they're headed downriver right now.
Narrator: The native villager has the
home court advantage.
Trooper Cresswell: Yeah, I'm pretty much
not seeing these guys at all.
Narrator: Finally, Cresswell spots the boat.
Trooper Cresswell: I'm gonna land,
probably right here in this little slough.
And see if they'll talk to me.
See if I can intercept them there.
I'm going to try to get this guy to talk
to me right now.
Hey!
They're playing cat and mouse with me.
They know that if I go over there, they can just bail.
He probably figured out that oh, okay, I wanted to talk,
"A trooper wants to talk to me, so, and I'm drunk,
so I need to get out of here."
That whole party, they're clearly
now actively evading.
At that point, I have to assess:
how risky is this?
And is it more dangerous to do a pursuit?
Narrator: Time to call for back up.
Trooper Acton: Hello?
Trooper Cresswell: The guy is BUI,
you need to get here.
Trooper Acton: Where, where are these guys at?
Trooper Cresswell: Oscarville Slough.
We're gonna try to close up the slough
from the bottom end.
If you guys want to go in on the top end,
we should have 'em bottled up in there.
Trooper Acton: Okay.
Trooper Cresswell: I'm going to launch again
to keep an eye on him.
I'll talk to you, bye.
This is not something you do every day,
pursuing a drunk,
an intoxicated boat driver in a float plane.
Narrator: With the sun fading,
Cresswell hopes Trooper Acton can find
them on the water before someone gets killed.
Trooper Cresswell: We've got a little bit more
time here before it gets too dark for us
to be doing this in an airplane.
Floatplane operations at night are
notoriously dangerous.
This is obviously not a safe situation for the
people in the boat right there.
Jet boat, you got an intoxicated driver.
The water temperature right now is extremely cold,
so if they go in the water they're going to
have some very serious problems.
Narrator: After chasing the suspects for nearly an hour,
their boat suddenly stops.
Trooper Cresswell: Yeah it looks like they're maybe;
they may have a problem with the boat.
Not sure what's goin' on but it looks to me like
there is somebody in that boat injured.
We need to get somebody down here right now.
There's somebody laying down in that boat
who does not look well.
They also just signaled us and waved us.
The boat is dead in the water.
It's sideways against the swell.
I've got to try to find the Trooper boat.
I've got to try rendezvous with these guys now.
Call Acton and tell him to come immediately.
Trooper Acton: What's going on?
I'm in the back slough on Oscarville.
I see you right now.
Come straight, you'll see us.
Narrator: The troopers must reach the boat and fast.
Trooper Acton: How far down?
Trooper Cresswell: They are just above the
outlet of this slough.
They're not here,
They've gotta be further down.
They were right where we; just above we were.
Shallow in here; super, super,
shallow and watch out for that log when
we come up here.
Trooper Acton: Yeah, I see it.
Ohhh, hold on, hold on, hold on.
Red Lund?
Trooper Cresswell: Yeah, there's people in it.
Trooper Acton: Yeah, I know.
Narrator: No one in the boat appears injured.
Trooper Acton: Hold on, guys.
Man: We're going in the slough!
Trooper Cresswell: Come here.
Man: Hey, let's go!
Trooper Cresswell: Did you guys just come down here?
Come over here.
Trooper Acton: Come here!
Go ashore; we need to talk to you.
Trooper Cresswell: Go to the shore now.
Trooper Acton: Go to the shore.
Trooper Cresswell: Go to the shore, now!
Trooper Acton: State Troopers.
Trooper Cresswell: State Troopers,
you go to the shore!
Trooper Acton: You understand?
Narrator: On shore, Cresswell deals with the
unpredictable driver.
Trooper Cresswell: Leave that alone, leave it alone.
Man: I don't wanna fight with you.
Trooper Cresswell: You don't wanna fight,
did you wanna fight?
Man: No, I don't wanna fight you.
Trooper Cresswell: Ok, good.
You almost ran into that airplane.
Did you just not see the airplane?
Man: No, I didn't.
Trooper Acton: This is the guy that's driving.
That was driving the boat and almost hit
Trooper Cresswell's plane earlier.
He admitted to drinking,
he admitted to driving the boat.
So we're doing "FST's" right now.
Trooper Cresswell: Okay.
Blow, blow, blow, blow.
Keep going, okay.
Man: What's it showing?
Trooper Cresswell: Right now what its
showing is .249.
So you are about three-times the legal limit, ok?
So what's going to happen is I'm going to
place you under arrest
for operating your boat under the influence,
alright?
Man: Can't you do something?
I got to go fishing.
Trooper Cresswell: I understand.
Man: (bleep)!
First DUI!
Holy freaking (bleep)!
I stepped in a damn puddle.
Trooper Cresswell: Put your hands behind your back;
put your hands behind your back.
Do it now!
Man: First DUI, three days.
Trooper Acton: Whether he gets convicted
of a DUI or a BUI.
We got him off the river.
We might have saved someone's life.
Narrator: East in the Mat Su Valley.
Trooper Stariha: He's gone.
Narrator: Trooper Stariha is hot on the trail
of a fleeing motorcycle.
Trooper Stariha: Mat-Com 42.
He was doing 100 in a 45.
Radio: Do you have a description
of the motorcycle?
Trooper Stariha: Negative.
Look at him, there he goes.
We're doing about 130.
We got 200 yards of open roads before we hit traffic.
Whoa!
He ran the stop sign.
Mat-com 42, the bike's going north on the Parks.
Narrator: The biker's sudden turn takes the
chase onto the crowded highway.
Trooper Stariha: Come on!
Narrator: And Stariha fires his patrol car up
to top speeds just to keep up.
Trooper Stariha: Holy cow!
This is why our cars don't last long.
You can smell the brakes already.
If people would just get out of the way and
let me go.
We weren't too far behind him.
Narrator: At these speeds, even the slightest mistake
could be deadly.
Dispatch: Discontinue.
Trooper Stariha: 10-4, 10-8.
Narrator: But the sergeant orders Stariha to
stand down for safety and the cyclist gets away.
Trooper Stariha: That's sucks.
That's the second one I've had on me in
two and a half years.
There's no good end to that pursuit.
That's gonna end one of three ways: he crashes,
we crash, least likely of all is that he pulls over.
Narrator: After putting innocent citizens at risk,
troopers are determined to get him off the roads.
Dispatch: All units 10-33, be advised.
Trooper Determan: Do we have a vehicle
description at all?
Narrator: They comb the Valley,
keeping an eye out for their wanted man.
Trooper Stariha: He's up in front of this car.
Nope.
Trooper Noll: Mat-Com 45, 10-36.
Radio: 45.
Trooper Noll: I'm trying to catch up to a motorcycle.
I think he turned down Vienna Woods
trying to ditch me.
Narrator: Trooper Jared Noll spots a bike
crossing a double yellow line.
It might be their suspect.
Trooper Noll: It was a silver street bike.
He saw me turn around, he ducked into Vienna Woods.
I'm 10-83.
Narrator: But the suspect quickly vanishes.
Trooper Noll: There's no dust when we got to
where it turned to dirt.
[radio chatter]
What are you guys doing back here?
Woman: Going to a friend's house.
Trooper Noll: Ok, did you guys see a motorcycle
come down this way?
Woman: Yeah.
Trooper Noll: Whereabouts?
Woman: He's hiding in the woods right there.
Trooper Noll: Perfect, thank you.
If there's another unit available to 10-19,
it's advised that the motorcycle is
hiding in the woods.
Hey, can you hear me.
Can you hear me?
Narrator: With no radio signal for back-up,
Noll heads into the dark woods alone in
search of the possibly dangerous driver.
Trooper Noll: Your backup may be thirty seconds away;
it may be thirty minutes away.
You're not going to just sit around and
wait for backup to show up.
You got to get in and handle the situation.
Hey, show me your hands.
Show me your hands, now!
Trooper Noll: Hey, show me your hands.
Show me your hands, now!
Turn around!
Why'd you run off, man?
Man: Why did I, what?
Trooper Noll: Why'd you run off down here,
hide in the woods?
Man: I had to stop and pee.
Trooper Noll: You didn't turn all the way down here
just to stop and pee.
Man: Ahh.
Trooper Noll: What's up?
Man: Nothing.
Trooper Noll: All right, we're gonna walk
back out to your bike.
Where's your ID, man?
Man: It's in the bag.
Trooper Noll: The bag, is that your bike?
Man: Yeah.
Trooper Noll: Okay, it's not stolen?
Man: Registration's right there.
Trooper Noll: Okay, it's not stolen or anything?
Man: No.
Trooper Noll: So why'd you duck off down here?
You see me turn around on you though
on the bridge, right?
Man: Well.
Trooper Noll: You (bleep)?
Man: Yes, sir.
Trooper Noll: You can have a seat in my car.
Narrator: Noll checks to see if the driver
is their wanted speeder.
Trooper Noll: NCIC 1B-45.
Radio: 10-4.
Trooper Noll: What's the vehicle description?
Radio: 45, it was blue; blue in color.
Narrator: He's not their guy,
but Noll still has reason to detain him.
Trooper Noll: He could have just been running
because he didn't want a ticket.
But I'm thinking he, he dumped something.
Drugs or a weapon; some contraband of some sort.
Narrator: Backup units arrive to assist
with the search.
Trooper: Just one person on it?
Trooper Noll: Yep.
I caught him out in the woods,
about a hundred yards in.
Trooper: What's his story?
Trooper Noll: Said he's on his way down to
visit his friend and stopped to take a pee.
Narrator: The story doesn't add up.
Trooper Noll: You know it doesn't make sense to hike
100 yards into the woods off of a dead end road
in the middle of nowhere for some privacy.
Hey, man, how much you had to drink tonight?
Man: Just had a couple beers.
Trooper Noll: A couple beers?
Ok, is that why you didn't stop?
Man: No, I didn't see you turn around and then.
Trooper Noll: Here's the deal with that, man.
If you're gonna stop to take a leak,
this is a road out in the middle of nowhere.
You're not going to hike a hundred yards
into the woods for some privacy.
Narrator: They administer field sobriety tests
to see if he's drunk.
Trooper Noll: Just go ahead and blow and keep blowin'
until I tell you to stop.
Keep blowing, harder.
Okay.
Man: What is it?
Trooper: You're not enough for a DUI.
Narrator: The search in the woods also comes up empty.
It looks like it's this man's lucky day.
Trooper Noll: Here's the deal if I had turned on
those lights, then that's a whole other story.
You were passing in a no passing zone.
You're gonna get a ticket for that.
Man: Thank you sir.
Trooper Noll: Sure enough, take care.
Trooper Garcia: Mat-Com 31, 10-36.
Narrator: Trooper Abraham Garcia has patrolled the
Mat-Su Valley's urban streets for four years.
Trooper Garcia: 10-4.
Narrator: And taken down the toughest criminals.
Trooper Garcia: On the ground now,
on the ground now!
Get on your stomach, now!
Where is the gun?
Man: It's gone!
Trooper Garcia: Where is the gun?
Is that what you were reaching for?
Man: Okay, okay!
Trooper Garcia: You don't want to do that!
Narrator: But now, he must prove himself in
an entirely different element.
Like most troopers, he will serve two
years at a remote village post where
wildlife out number people.
Trooper Garcia: I'm assigned to Kotzebue now.
I came from the Mat-Su Valley.
It's going to be completely different.
Narrator: Now, more than 500 miles away
from his old post.
Trooper Garcia: A lot of us would say this
is what we signed up for.
Narrator: Garcia must adjust to the harsh
realities of rural village life.
Trooper Garcia: The weather itself,
we came from fifty degree to about twenty degrees.
No snow down there to about a foot.
The population here is a lot different, smaller;
it's about 3,500 people right now.
Narrator: His new partner, Trooper Christopher Bitz,
has a lot to teach him about life in the frozen bush.
Trooper Bitz: I've been here, going on two years.
The biggest challenge you face up here is
getting from Point A to Point B.
Then to actually be able to track down
and locate people.
A lot of times they might not want to be found.
So, Garcia is brand new.
So that's a challenge.
Narrator: Today, they're pursuing a wanted man and
must travel 150 miles east to an isolated
village on the banks of the Kobuk River.
Trooper Bitz: We're getting ready to head out
to the village of Shungnak.
Go out with Garcia today,
got a guy with a warrant down there.
So, see what happens.
Narrator: But Garcia won't have the safety
of his patrol car.
Trooper Garcia: Flying out.
It's my first village trip in Kotzebue;
everything's going to be kind of a learning
experience for me.
Transporting prisoners,
it's not the same as in the Valley.
Throw them in the car, put them in the car
and take them to jail.
Here you gotta put them in an airplane and
fly them out.
Narrator: And out here,
where nearly everyone is armed,
they won't have the luxury of immediate back up.
Their only help is Otis Rolls,
a village public safety officer who
isn't even armed.
Trooper Garcia: Thank you, Otis!
Otis Rolls: How have you been?
Trooper Garcia: What I used to have in
the Mat-Su Valley compared to here,
and what he has compared to where I'm at,
is just completely different than what
I'm used to.
It's, it's a big, big eye opener.
Narrator: Making their job even more dangerous,
their arrival isn't much of a surprise.
Trooper Garcia: We just landed and you're
hearing it all over the radio,
letting everybody else know,
"Hey, the troopers are there."
Otis Rolls: They'll know where you're at,
at all times.
Trooper Garcia: Oh, I know!
Narrator: They waste no time and set out on a rugged
thirty-minute ride through Alaskan backcountry.
The temperature's a bone-chilling 22 degrees and
there's no one in sight if they break down.
It's Garcia's first patrol by snow-machine at a remote
village post and he'll need to learn fast.
Trooper Garcia: Now we're on the snowmobiles.
Don't know what's going to happen.
You get nervous, especially when the weather
is changing and it's really cold.
It's definitely something that, you know,
being on patrol in Palmer I'd of never seen.
Narrator: A half hour later,
they arrive in the tiny village of Kobuk and
spring into action.
Trooper Garcia: Where's his house at?
Otis Rolls: Pretty close.
Narrator: They can only hope their suspect
hasn't already been tipped off.
Trooper Garcia: This is it here, Otis?
Otis Rolls: Yeah.
Trooper Garcia: All right, let's roll.
You want me to go around the back?
Narrator: They split up to cover both exits.
Trooper Bitz: I hear somebody in there now.
I want to talk to (bleep).
Man: Hello boys.
Trooper Bitz: Are you (bleep)?
Man: Yes, sir.
Trooper Bitz: You got a warrant for your arrest.
I need to bring you in with me, okay?
$5,000 Assault Three warrant, all right?
Man: It's right before the work season.
Trooper Bitz: I guess it's better
than the middle of the work season, huh?
Man: Oh, man.
Trooper Bitz: You'll have to talk to a
judge about it.
Alright, I didn't want to put these on
in front of your family, but I'm gonna put
'em on up front.
Narrator: Now they must hope their prisoner doesn't try
anything on their 8-mile sled ride back to the plane.
Trooper Bitz: It might be easier for one of you to sit
with your back here and the other one to sit up here.
Trooper Garcia: I have to sit right in front of him,
making sure he doesn't try to jump off.
There's no window, there's no bars separating
me and him.
There's nothing, it's just me right next to him.
We're going to be okay?
Hope so.
Alright, let's roll.
Narrator: There's a storm rolling in.
If they don't get back to their plane ASAP,
they won't be able to take off.
So they take a shortcut,
but it dead-ends into the river.
They must make a tough choice: cross the
semi-frozen waterway and risk falling into
ice-laden waters, or find another route and
risk missing their plane.
Fortunately, they have Otis.
Otis Rolls: Watch out, there's open water over on
this one deal that's real swift.
You go in it, you're gone ok?
Stay right behind me, my trail.
Ready?
Trooper Garcia: You know, he's got lots
of years of experience in this area.
It just makes you appreciate the job they do.
Narrator: But its frightening new terrain for
Garcia, the Arctic rookie.
Trooper Garcia: A lot of things going
through my mind.
He's talking about overflowing,
possibility of breaking through the ice
and going under.
If we do break through the ice,
we're pretty much gone.
Narrator: After a nail biting 20-minute ride across
the semi-frozen river, they make it safely to the other
side with their prisoner and board the transport
plane back to Kotzebue before the storm.
Trooper Garcia: It worked out, got him.
We went straight to the house,
knowing that he was probably going to hide
from us or within minutes of us being there.
It is a lot different here.
I've seen a part of the state that I never
thought I was going to see.
It's awesome, you know?
Flying, jumping in a snowmobile,
riding around the village.
It's just an experience I would never
get anywhere else.
Narrator: At the edge of the continent
lies one of the most remote law enforcement posts
in the nation, Emmonak.
And it's Trooper Bill Connors's job
to patrol this almost inaccessible region alone.
Trooper Connors: Everything you do,
you got to rely on yourself.
So you have to change your way of thinking
a little bit.
It's a lot of lessons learned,
sometimes the hard way.
We definitely get a lot of weapons that
come through here.
In the last seven days I've had seventeen rifles,
shotguns, a machete and a crossbow.
These four here are from a felony assault case
I just had two days ago.
The suspect had a rifle in his hand and was
threatening to shoot one of our VPO's.
We've got to try and stay on top of it
the best we can.
Narrator: But Connors isn't just out gunned.
He's also fighting one of the most dangerous
weather events in the remote Alaskan bush:
the spring thaw.
After months of constant ice and snow,
the frozen river begins melting,
putting remote villages at the mercy of
potentially deadly floods.
Trooper Connors: The pack ice from the
Yukon River is starting to break up.
And essentially if it breaks up too quick,
it creates ice jams that will start
flowing down river.
Building up, you start getting flooding.
Narrator: Only a few years ago,
flooding on the Yukon decimated a small village,
resulting in an estimated $5 million in damages.
Trooper Connors: Yeah this water has definitely
come up at least a couple feet in the last day.
There are some ice jams starting to form.
We might have some issues.
Woman: Do you think it will flood?
Trooper Connors: I'd have to talk to the
elders about that.
Woman: I'll be so scared if that happens.
Where we going to go?
Trooper Connors: I know.
Narrator: But suddenly, Connors' attention gets
pulled away from the village's impending danger.
Trooper Connors: Yeah, what's up man?
Is it cut bad?
I mean, are you guys bleeding?
Thanks, I'll be there in a couple minutes.
I just got a phone call from an individual that
lives at the end of town here.
He wanted to report that there was a stabbing.
Looks like three parties were at a residence,
some kind of argument ensued;
our suspect pulled out a knife and started swinging
and ended up stabbing one guy.
It's unknown if he requires any medical treatment.
Man: I said no!
Trooper Connors: Come on let's go, let's go inside.
Man: I'm (bleep) pissed off, man.
Trooper Connors: I know you are, I know you are.
Man: That punk kid!
Trooper Connors: Go inside, come on.
Man: Enough!
Trooper Connors: Let's just check this out.
Okay, what happened?
Man: Pulled out a knife and tried to stab me
on the face and I blocked him.
Trooper Connors: You blocked him and then what?
Man: And then he went after (bleep).
Trooper Connors: Let me see your hand
right here real quick.
And that's where he stuck you with it?
Man: Yup, he tried to (bleep) stab me
on my cheek with that knife.
Trooper Connors: Okay, I'll get in touch with
you guys later.
This is only one side of the story,
sometimes depending on what else is going on,
I mean, it might be turned around the other way.
Heading to the suspect's residence.
The suspect can get a little unpleasant.
Last time I was inside the trailer,
I was dealing with a guy attempting to cut
another guy with a machete.
Narrator: With a potentially crazed suspect
and the nearest back up a plane ride away,
Connors approaches with extreme caution.
There's no one home.
Trooper Connors: Doors were padlocked;
they've obviously fled the scene.
I spoke with the suspect's father back there.
He will find the suspect and bring him
over to the office here,
because right now it'd be like looking for
a needle in a haystack.
Narrator: Before heading back to post,
Connors checks on a more pressing matter, the river.
The ice jam has arrived and the water's rising fast.
Narrator: Emmonak and its almost 800 citizens are
staring down the barrel of an epic flood.
Trooper Connors: If it keeps going this way,
it's going to start pushing ice up on the
shore line which is going to start spilling over
and then consuming part of the village.
Narrator: But Trooper Connors must deal with
another pressing issue: his open stabbing case.
The suspect's been brought in by his father.
Trooper Connors: Come on in.
You guys know why you're here, right?
I need to sort through the bottom of this because
there's some implications and they're not good.
Man: We were just working on his Honda and
they came over, they're trying to say
that we were stealing their bucket.
That's when we were asking them,
"Can you please go?"
"This is my mom's land."
Man 2: That's where they start hollering at me,
"You owe me, you owe me, you owe me!"
I was like, "Ah man, I don't owe you nothing."
"What the hell?"
Trooper Connors: Okay, keep going.
What else?
Man: We tied up the Honda on my sister's Honda
and we came home.
Trooper Connors: And that's it?
Man: Yeah.
Man 2: We took off.
Trooper Connors: Did you guys get in
any kind of fight?
Man: No.
Trooper Connors: Nothing?
Man: There was no fighting.
Man 2: I noticed he was drinking.
Man: They were both drinking.
Trooper Connors: There's, there's always two
sides to every story.
The original call that came in,
you know, had me kind of concerned.
I'm kind of satisfied right now with the
answers that I've received.
We'll leave it at that for now.
Thanks guys, I appreciate it.
Thanks, see you later.
Thanks again.
Yeah, take care.
Based on the statements they provided and the way they
were handling the interview, I mean,
I'm really inclined to believe their
side of the story.
It just, it wasn't there.
Narrator: After hearing both sides of the story,
Connors returns to the rising river's edge;
afraid time may be running out for the village.
Trooper Connors: It's business as usual until
there is flooding.
If that happens, you can have some serious damage.
We'll have to evacuate.
The river here and the slough
is tidally influenced.
We're getting close to a high tide right now.
Narrator: Good news.
Trooper Connors: I think it's going down.
We actually, we made it right to the
top of the bank.
It kind of crested right there.
You know, it's really hard to say.
You just have to take it on a day-to-day basis
and see what the water levels like.
Narrator: East in the Mat Su valley,
the struggle between animals and humans continues.
But this time it's moose.
Man: That's way too close for comfort.
Narrator: In Alaska, moose are responsible for more
attacks on people than grizzly and black bears
combined, making them one of the state's
most dangerous animals.
Trooper Cooper: The moose are getting pretty agitated
with all the extra work that they've had to do
to survive through the winter.
So they've been charging a lot.
We've had a lot of moose come down into the area.
A lot of them haven't been able to get enough food
because the snowfall has been so heavy this year.
Dispatch: 18?
Trooper Cooper: 18, go ahead.
Dispatch: We got contact advising there's a moose
that's alive, injured and not able to get up.
Trooper Cooper: 10-4, is it in his yard or?
Dispatch: It's on the side of the road.
Trooper Cooper: 10-4.
So, we're gonna go out and take a look and see if the
moose is just resting, because often times they
just lay on the side of the road.
Or if it is indeed ill, starving,
something like that.
They look like they're big dumb slow animals,
but definitely not.
Those things get up and they're so quick,
do some damage to me if it gets a hold of me.
Boom, there it is.
Oh yeah, that thing's in bad shape;
may already be dead.
Complainant: Maybe.
She was moving her ears when I was here an hour ago.
Trooper Cooper: Starvation?
Man: Poor gal.
Trooper Cooper: We'll go and take a look at her.
Man: I hate to see an animal suffer.
Narrator: If this massive 1,200 pound beast charges.
Trooper Cooper: Oh yeah, that thing's still alive.
Narrator: Cooper would only have seconds to react.
Trooper Cooper: That thing looks horrible.
If I could walk directly up to the moose and
it's not moving or anything like that,
then it's obviously not in the best shape to take care
of itself so unfortunately he'll have to go.
Narrator: After years of dispatching moose,
Cooper has developed a ritual to honor the animal.
Trooper Cooper: I name all of my moose because
I want to give them a name before it goes
and it meets its creator, if you will.
He looks like an Alvin; he's definitely an Alvin.
[shotgun blast]
I thought Alvin was a good name.
It was just fitting because Alvin is the first letter of
the alphabet as far as A, so it's the first moose
of this month, so we went with Alvin.
Our Fish and Game folks will come out and
they'll either discard the moose or they'll
let nature take its course.
Narrator: Back in Fairbanks.
Trooper Colley: Fairbanks, 17.
Narrator: Trooper Melvin Colley receives
a chilling call.
Dispatch: He's reporting that he was stabbed in the
stomach, has no idea where the assailant went and he's
locked in mini storage.
Trooper Colley: A guy got stabbed in his
stomach inside of a storage unit.
Apparently the storage unit is locked and
he doesn't know where the suspect went.
Trooper Colley: A guy got stabbed in his
stomach inside of a storage unit.
Apparently the storage unit is locked and
he doesn't know where the suspect went.
Usually if somebody gets stabbed in the stomach,
usually there's a reason why.
So there might be more going on.
Radio: 33, can we confirm that the
suspect is not there?
Dispatch: 33, that's unknown.
17, be advised he is 10-96 for FPD,
10-93 for AST,
and he actually lives in that storage unit.
Trooper Colley: And this is the victim, correct?
Dispatch: That's affirmative.
Trooper Colley: He's 10-96, which means that he
has some type of mental situation going on,
so that means he might be unstable when
talking to him.
Dispatch: Units responding,
FPD is not getting a response on his phone anymore.
Trooper Colley: Fairbanks 17,
confirm that he's not being responsive?
Dispatch: 17, he's no longer responding to
questions on the phone.
FPD is still on the open line.
They can hear somebody in the background
on the phone call.
Narrator: Colley rushes to the scene just moments
behind Trooper Mulvaney.
Trooper Colley: He's getting his axe out right now.
Narrator: They race to the victim's storage unit home,
fearing the worst.
Trooper Mulvaney: Can you hear me?
(bleep) how do we open your door?
33, have fire department come over here with a,
with a saw.
[muffled screams of pain]
This door has to come open now.
Firefighter: Probably going to have to cut
around the metal.
Trooper Mulvaney: We don't know who else is in there
guys, so once it's open back off, okay?
Yeah.
Come on, back up.
(bleep), (bleep).
Hey (bleep), do you have a knife with you?
Trooper Colley: Let me see your hands (bleep).
Narrator: He's barely conscious.
Trooper Colley: Yeah, he's coughing up blood.
Hey, let's get EMS in here.
Trooper Mulvaney: There's nobody else in there, guys.
EMS: How you doing?
Can you tell us where you hurt?
Narrator: As EMS races to stabilize him,
troopers struggle to make sense of the situation.
Trooper Mulvaney: I didn't see
anybody on foot, nothing.
Woman: We have cameras on the premises too,
if you need our tape or anything.
Trooper Colley: Can we look at it now?
Woman: Yeah I believe so.
Let's see if we can.
Trooper Colley: So were you just in here the whole time?
Woman: Yep.
Trooper Colley: Did you hear anything?
Woman: No.
These latches, you're supposed to line up the
holes a certain way to put a lock on it.
So somebody, somebody needs to be on the outside
of the door in order to do that.
Narrator: But security footage shows no one
entering or leaving the unit for several hours.
Trooper: So where all did you get stabbed?
We're trying to figure out what your injuries are.
Narrator: And EMS can't locate any visible injury.
Trooper Colley: This is coagulated blood.
It's almost brown on his body.
So I mean it's been there for a couple hours already.
There is blood but were not sure on the validity
of his statements.
I don't know how he locked himself in there though.
Trooper Mulvaney: He's got a jerry-rigged rope on it.
So, maybe the rope was tied down so he couldn't open it.
Man: Please lock the door?
EMS: Yeah, we'll take care of it.
Narrator: He won't be coming back to his
"Home" anytime soon.
Trooper Colley: Inside there was blood
everywhere near his head and there was like blood
on his hands and on his face.
EMS: We're going to do the moving.
You just stay still, okay?
Narrator: But it still doesn't add up.
Trooper Colley: After talking to the medical staff,
we learned that there was no stab wounds
or anything like that.
There was no indication of an assault.
He just had medical conditions that
he needed help with.
Right now, he's alive and not in any kind of
critical medical condition.
He was just coughing up blood and he was sick.