Unalaska, AK – A police officer in Unalaska was recently released from the Department of Public Safety after wrecking his car while driving drunk and failing to report the accident. Twenty-seven year old R.J. Wickstrom was hired by public safety in late June. On the evening of August 7th he went out drinking with a number of friends. At around 3 am on the 8th, the group was given a ride back to a house by another public safety officer. First Sgt. Matt Betzen said that giving rides is not customary but sometimes happens when necessary.

"I know when I was on patrol I would routinely give people rides home simply because it was more trouble to try to get them home another way and ensure that they made the right choices. And I think that's what Officer [Steve] Kelly was trying to do that night," Betzen said. "He was not happy about it and he did report it up his chain of command almost immediately the next morning. He felt like he was in a bad situation and I think he dealt with it correctly in that he tried to keep these people from making bad choices. Unfortunately, at least one of them continued to make a bad choice."

After being dropped off, most of the group went into the house. Wickstrom did not. Witnesses said he seemed upset. A while later he called a friend from inside the house and she went outside and sat in his car with him to talk. Wickstrom drove away from the house. His passenger, who was also intoxicated, told police that she asked him multiple times to stop and take her home. Wickstrom drove the car up Overland Drive where he went off of the road and into a ravine. He left his passenger, who had cuts and bruises on her legs, arms, and head, and walked back into town to look for help. About five hours later he returned to the scene with his passenger's relatives. Later that day his roommate helped him move the vehicle.

Wickstrom did not report the incident to the police. According to court documents he said he planned on reporting it when he went to work at the department of public safety the next day.

Wickstrom is being charged with driving under the influence, reckless endangerment, assault III, tampering with physical evidence and failure to report an accident. No other charges will be filed in this case against another other people.

Betzen said Wickstrom was still on employment probation when the incident occurred and he was immediately let go because he did not represent the community well.

"It's unfortunate that someone we had entrusted as a police officer made clearly bad choices that are unacceptable both to the community and to our department," Betzen said. "We did immediately let him go and now he's like any other citizen and he needs to deal with the legal system and however that works out for him."

Charges were filed against Wickstrom on August 14. The case was investigated for both criminal and administrative purposes by department supervisors.