ANCHORAGE — Authorities on Thursday defended the length of time it took to win a conviction against a former Alaska police officer accused of assaulting a man during a violent arrest more than two years ago in Bethel.
State prosecutors and the FBI made the comments a day after Andrew Reid pleaded guilty under a plea deal to misdemeanor charges of misconduct and assault in the arrest of Wassillie Gregory.
Authorities said they took the time needed to do a thorough investigation.
The FBI initially investigated the case before turning it over to the state Department of Law last summer, Criminal Division Director John Skidmore told reporters during a briefing in Anchorage.
Prosecutors went on to ask for further information, which was provided in November, he said. Charges were filed the following month.
“From our standpoint, that went forward very smoothly and efficiently,” Skidmore said.
Marlin Ritzman, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Anchorage division, said his agency doesn’t set arbitrary timelines for its investigations. He said the goal is to ensure investigations are conducted thoroughly and methodically.
“And if it takes months, it’ll take months to do that,” Ritzman said.
No federal charges are planned, he said.
Soon after the arrest of Gregory, a woman filed a complaint alleging she saw Reid repeatedly slamming a man to the ground. The woman complained to the city and the FBI.
Skidmore said the FBI began investigating 10 days after receiving the complaint from the woman.
Reid, who now lives outside Alaska, will serve a four-month jail term. He participated by phone during Wednesday’s court hearing in Bethel, 400 miles west of Anchorage.
Skidmore said Reid is expected to request that the Department of Corrections allow him to serve out his sentence through electronic monitoring, but no decision has been made.
Reid’s attorney, Wally Tetlow, did not immediately respond Thursday to a call seeking comment.
Last year, Gregory won a $175,000 settlement in a lawsuit against the city and Reid.
A Bethel judge previously overturned Gregory’s guilty plea to a charge of harassing a police officer after surveillance video of the arrest surfaced.
At Thursday’s press briefing, officials held up the case as an example of how abuses of power will not be tolerated.
Skidmore noted the vast majority of law enforcement officers do a tremendous job protecting Alaskans.
“But we recognize that with a large group of people like that — in the same way you can have a barrel of apples — sometimes there are bad ones,” he said. “And when those bad ones are found they will be removed, as was the case with Mr. Reid.”
