Two brothers assaulted a local woman early Friday morning, after she had stopped to assist them.

The attack occurred just after 2am, outside of the Harbor View Bar and Grill. The victim approached Angel Garcia-Casas and Antonio Garcia-Casas, both age 24, after Angel fell and appeared to be hurt. After she helped the man up, he put her into a chokehold and had to be pried off of her by bystanders. Once she was freed from Angel’s grip, his twin brother Antonio also attacked her, hitting her in the face. The two brothers were arrested shortly thereafter.

According to Sgt. Bill Simms, the victim is an employee at the Grand Aleutian and accustomed to helping out intoxicated and belligerent patrons. He says that’s part of what makes this attack so different from other bar fights that might happen in Unalaska.

“What separates this one is that it was totally unprovoked. You have a female who is just trying to help a guy out of a drunken stupor, and basically gets assaulted. He was actually trying to choke her out from behind,” says Simms. “It goes to show you that anything can happen out there at any time.”

Simms says that the woman is recovering, but shocked by what happened.

“The injuries would have been a lot worse if the bystanders weren’t there to pull this individual off of her. Her airways was occluded, and she had difficulty breathing at the time,” says Simms. “She stated that she was afraid she was going to get killed.”

Angel Garcia-Casas faces a felony assault charge for the attack, and his bail has been set at $45,000. He was also subsequently arrested on two outstanding warrants from Oregon, one for charges of minor in possession and another for a felony charge for driving under the influence. Antonio Garcia-Casas was charged with a misdemeanor for the assault and for working as his twin’s accomplice. His bail is set at $5,000.

According to Simms, the Garcia-Casas brothers reside in Oregon, and they were up in Unalaska as part of the crew of a Fishing Company of Alaska vessel. The twins have since been terminated from their positions and remain in police custody.