Troopers on patrol at mile 1 of Tetlin Road came across a vehicle accident at 1:30 am on Sunday morning and opened an investigation into the incident. As they were investigating, troopers saw a man walk out of the woods near the scene.

During contact with the suspect, they identified him as 35-year-old Mitchel Joseph. It would be determined that Joseph was the driver of the vehicle and was found to be intoxicated at the time of contact. He was placed under arrest after refusing to cooperate. Further investigating would find that Joseph had two prior felony DUIs on his record and so was charged with felony DUI.

Tetlin land/village is a local option community and has banned the importation of alcohol and alcohol was found at the scene.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adversal-468×60″]

Joseph would refuse to give a breath sample, and after troopers were granted a search warrant to get a blood sample, Joseph would refuse that as well. Joseph would be charged with Felony DUI, Felony refusal, importation of alcohol, leaving the scene of an accident, and contempt of court order.

The vehicle had suffered extensive damage and was not drivable.

Joseph was taken to the Tok jail and held pending arraignment.

  accident, arrest, court order, dui, felony, importation, joseph, leaving the scene, mitchel, refusal, tetlin, tok, troopers