Two Soldotna-based Alaska State Troopers pleaded not guilty in federal court in Anchorage yesterday to one count each of violating a Kenai man’s civil rights.
A federal grand jury indicted 43-year-old Jason Woodruff and 50-year-old Joseph Miller last month over their alleged conduct during a violent 2024 arrest in Kenai. It was a case of mistaken identity, and the federal indictment says Woodruff and Miller deprived a person of their right to be free from unreasonable seizures and use of unreasonable force by law enforcement.
The federal government says Miller tased, hit and kicked the man without legal justification, causing him bodily injury, and that Woodruff unreasonably used his police dog to bite the man, even though the man did not pose a threat…