Fairbanks Man with Warrant Arrested after Harming K9 Kenny


K9 Kenny. Image-AST
K9 Kenny. Image-AST

Early Tuesday morning a Fairbanks man with warrants was arrested after he harmed a K9 Unit during attempts to take him into custody troopers reported.

Troopers were alerted that Joseph Arabie, age 36, had been located in a commercial building near Lakloey Drive at 4:30 am on Tuesday and responded to the scene.

Arabie was known to have absconded from supervised parole and had an active $1500 warrant for Assault IV.

Fairbanks Patrol, the Criminal Suppression Unit, and members from the Aircraft Section and the Alaska Bureau of Investigation when arriving, quickly set a perimeter around the building and called on Arabie to exit the building. He ignored authorities and did not come out of the building so a search of the building was initiated.

Arabie was soon located in a crawlspace with equipment and further commands to give up were issued, which the suspect again ignored. As a result, K9 Kenny was released to apprehend Arabie. When contact was made, Arabie would place his legs in a scissor hold around the K9’s neck in an attempt to strangle the canine. 

After deploying less-lethal force that failed, troopers made contact in an attempt to free the K9. An altercation ensued in the crawlspace that ultimately resulted in Arabie being taken into custody.

The suspect was medically cleared then further transported and remanded to the Fairbanks Correctional Center on charges of  Parole Violation, Harming a Police Dog, Resisting Arrest, and Assault on Police Officer x2.