Track Palin charged with assault, domestic violence

WASILLA — Officers from the Wasilla Police Department responding to a 911 call found Track Palin’s girlfriend hiding under a bed in the Palin family home with a head injury, according to court documents filed Tuesday in Palmer.

Police responded to the home near the Parks Highway in Wasilla at around 10 p.m. Monday for a woman who reported a disturbance involving a firearm and possible assault. During their response, police were informed dispatchers had also received a phone call from a man who identified himself as Track Palin and accused the other caller of being drunk.

Track Palin is the son of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and four-time Iron Dog snowmachine race champion Todd Palin.

Police allegedly found Track outside the residence with a “visible injury to his right eye and the area around his eye,” according to Investigator Andrew Kappler.

Palin smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes, Kappler wrote.

“Upon contacting Palin, he was uncooperative, belligerent and evasive with my initial line of questions,” Kappler wrote. “I asked him numerous times to tell me what happened, why 911 was called, and the location of the female who also called 911. Palin stated he didn’t know where she was and denied that there was a firearm involved, but did state that there were several spread throughout the residence. Due to Palin’s escalating hostility, the unknown whereabouts of the female 911 caller, and officer safety, Palin was placed in handcuffs.”

Wasilla police Sergeant Bobby Rader found Palin’s girlfriend hiding under a bed in the residence moments later.

The two gave conflicting accounts of the disturbance, according to Kappler, who wrote that Palin told police he and his girlfriend went out to dinner and that they’d argued most of the evening. After dinner the couple went to Palin’s sister’s house, where Palin said the girlfriend had been drinking wine, Kappler wrote. After that, they went to look at some nearby property Palin was considering buying, and the argument started up again. At some point during the argument, Kappler wrote, Palin’s girlfriend threatened to call police on him, and Palin threatened to call police on her back.

“When I asked Palin about the injury to his face, he stated that at some point the alleged victim “threw a bow (elbow)” striking him in the face,” Kappler wrote. “Palin never made it clear exactly how or where the injury occurred.”

The girlfriend told police she and Palin argued the whole way home. The argument grew heated, and the couple were screaming and calling each other names, Kappler wrote.

The woman said Palin hit her after she lied and told him she called police “in an attempt to calm him down.”

“Palin approached (the girlfriend) and struck her on the left side of her head near her eye with a closed fist,” Kappler wrote.

The girlfriend went into a fetal position, at which point, Palin kicked her in the right knee, according to the report. The girlfriend’s phone was on the ground in front of her, and Palin allegedly grabbed it and threw it across the driveway. Kappler wrote that the woman retrieved the phone and went in the house, where she met Palin, allegedly holding a gun near his face and yelling “do you think I won’t do it?”

The girlfriend “was concerned that he (Palin) would shoot himself and ran outside and around the house,” he wrote. “She didn’t see where Palin went so she went inside and up the stairs, where she hid under the bed. Shortly after, she heard Palin walking around inside looking for her. Palin left after not locating her.”

Police found what they allege was the firearm involved, an unloaded AR-15, on the kitchen counter.

Palin later allegedly blew a 0.189 breath alcohol content sample. The legal limit for driving in Alaska is 0.08.

Police took Palin to Mat-Su Pretrial Facility on charges of fourth-degree assault, interfering with a domestic violence report, and fourth-degree weapons misconduct. He was arraigned Tuesday afternoon.

The arraignment came the same day Sarah Palin — who in addition to serving as governor is a former Wasilla mayor and U.S. vice-presidential candidate — announced her endorsement of current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at an event in Iowa.

Wasilla police did not return a phone call in time for comment on this story.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.