Man charged with dragging trooper

WASILLA — A Wasilla man was jailed Saturday after Alaska State Troopers say he almost ran one trooper over, then dragged a second trooper 100 feet as he tried to stop him.

Fedor S. “Fred” Gostevskyh is facing charges of DUI, eluding arrest, third-degree assault on a police officer, reckless driving, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and refusing a chemical test.

“I think the charge of assault three on a law enforcement officer, I think that would pertain to how he was driving toward Trooper Cook,” said trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters.

According to an affidavit trooper Daniel G. Valentine filed with the case, troopers were running traffic control at about 4:11 a.m. Saturday at a car wreck on Knik-Goose Bay Rd. near mile 4. Gostevskyh pulled up to the roadblock driving a white 2007 Toyota Tundra truck. Valentine wrote that as the window rolled down he smelled alcohol in the truck.

“I shined my flashlight in the vehicle and saw two open containers in the center console. I then shined my flashlight on the driver and observed bloodshot/watery eyes,” Valentine wrote.

Valentine asked Gostevskyh to pull over to the side of the road, according to his affidavit, a request Gostevskyh initially refused, but then assented to.

As he reached the rear of the truck, Valentine wrote, the driver started accelerating toward the accident scene. Valentine said he feared Gostevskyh would hit the ambulance personnel who were attending to the scene. Valentine also said he feared for trooper Dug Cook who had been manning the roadblock on the other side of the wreck but had come over to help. Valentine shouted for the driver to stop and started running alongside the moving truck.

“I then reached into the window and attempted to stop the vehicle by restraining the driver,” Valentine wrote. “I was drug approximately 100 ft. by the vehicle.”

At this point Cook had drawn his pistol and was ordering Gostevskyh from the truck. Gostevskyh complied.

But he wasn’t done resisting, Valentine wrote. As Gostevskyh was loaded into a patrol car, he started kicking a third trooper and the car door, attempting to keep it from closing, Valentine wrote. According to Valentine’s affidavit, Gostevskyh refused a breath test on scene but failed a number of sobriety tests including the “Walk and Turn Test” and the “One Leg Stand Test.”

Troopers say a second person in the truck was also arrested. Michael D. Malley, 26, was jailed on $250 bail for being intoxicated and in possession of a concealed handgun.

According to court records, Gostevskyh’s bail was set at $5,000 and he will need to find a third-party to watch over him before he can be released. Records as of Monday afternoon showed he was still jailed at Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.