Palmer Police investigating incident involving officers at the Alaska State Fair

The Palmer Police Department is currently investigating a physical incident involving three of its officers at the Alaska State Fair Sunday night that was captured by a bystander on video that went viral on social media.

The video shows a man holding a young child. Three officers made contact with the man. As one officer attempts to remove the young child from the man’s grasp, as seen in the recording, a second officer applies a chokehold on the man. A third officer helped force the man to the ground, appears to throw multiple punches to the man’s midsection and use a Taser on the man, as the man continued to be held in the chokehold by the second officer.

The video went viral on popular social media platforms such as TikTok and Facebook.

Palmer Police identified the man as 22-year-old Jeffry Cook-Reed. The officers in the video are Officer Rachel Moyer, Officer Ryan Ogden and Sergeant Perry Morgan, Palmer Police Commander Like Szipsky told the Frontiersman.

“The two officers, involved in the arrest down to the ground, are currently on administrative leave pending the results of use of force investigation,” Szipskzy said.

Szipskzy said PPD is following policy for internal investigations and there is no timeline as information is still coming in from various people.

“But it’s my top priority right now,” the commander added.

Palmer Dispatch received a 911 call at about 8 p.m. Sunday, alleging that Cook-Reed was causing a disturbance near the purple gate on the state fairgrounds. The caller reported Cook-Reed was, “allegedly walking away with a baby while screaming and yelling,” PPD said in a statement released Tuesday. The caller also alleged Cook-Reed, “had been drinking, was driving and smelled strongly of alcohol.”

PPD said an active warrant for Cook-Reed for failure to appear on the original charge of assault in the fourth degree was also confirmed. The warrant was issued on Aug. 11, according to online records. The stage date was Feb. 5.

PPD said, “the child was not injured during the arrest,” in its statement released Tuesday.

This is a developing story. Continue to see frontiersman.com for more.

Contact the Frontiersman at news@frontiersman.com.