Crime & Justice

Harassment conviction of man assaulted by Bethel police officer dismissed

BETHEL -- The harassment conviction of a Bethel man who was slammed repeatedly to the ground during an arrest last summer has been dismissed.

The rough arrest of Wassillie Gregory last July was captured by a security camera at the Alaska Commercial Co. store in the heart of Bethel. The video surfaced publicly in April when attorney Sean Brown filed a document in court to rescind the conviction. Gregory wasn't represented by a lawyer when he pleaded guilty last year to harassment related to his encounter with the police officer, Andrew Reid, who since has been fired from the police force.

Magistrate Judge Bruce Ward on Monday approved Gregory's request and ordered the criminal case be dismissed. District Attorney Michael Gray did not oppose the dismissal.

Lisa Demer

Lisa Demer was a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News. Among her many assignments, she spent three years based in Bethel as the newspaper's western Alaska correspondent. She left the ADN in 2018.

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