Crime & Justice

Troopers: Wasilla motorcyclist turns 'strange' on Good Samaritans

Alaska State Troopers say a Talkeetna resident who tried to help an apparently distressed motorcyclist Thursday ended up locked inside his house as the 33-year-old Wasilla man banged on the doors and waved a handgun.

Troopers responding to a report of an intoxicated man brandishing a firearm on Dragonfly Hollow Drive near Talkeetna found a by-then cooperative Joseph Garner Jr., according to spokesperson Beth Ipsen.

Garner, who was intoxicated at the time, was riding a motorcycle when he stopped on the side of the road near the house, Ipsen said in an email. A man from inside the house came out to make sure Garner was OK. The man let him pull his motorcycle into the driveway and went back inside.

"Garner started acting strange and banged on the home's door," she said. Finding it locked, Garner displayed a handgun -- though he never threatened to shoot anyone -- and walked around the house.

Garner was "very cooperative" when a trooper arrived, Ipsen said.

He was charged with third-degree assault, driving under the influence, and fourth-degree misconduct involving weapons and taken to Mat-Su Pretrial Facility on $5,000 bail, troopers say.

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