A drunk-driving accident earlier this month took out Unalaska’s one major traffic stop.

 Cole Corbett, 30, allegedly ran into one of the runway stop arms on Ballyhoo Road last Saturday after veering off the road. While he and his passenger were not injured, the crash did result in serious property damage. The Department of Transportation estimates that repairs to the stop arms will cost $50,000.

An Akutan man charged with sexual assault was acquitted this morning.

Richard Stepetin, 45, stood accused of having sex with an unconscious 24-year-old woman following a late-night gathering in early January. Testimony was heard this week in the Unalaska courthouse, and the jury returned a verdict of “not guilty” after deliberating for five hours over the course of two days.

In order to reach a verdict of guilty, Assistant District Attorney David Martin had to demonstrate that intercourse had taken place, that the alleged victim was incapacitated and unable to consent to sex, and that the defendant was aware that she was unable to consent. According to one juror, the prosecutor failed to prove the third component beyond reasonable doubt. The juror added that the group found it difficult to piece together what actually happened, since both parties consumed substantial amounts of alcohol and suffered blackouts that night.

Today, lawyers made opening statements in a case concerning a sexual assault that allegedly took place in Akutan earlier this year.

Richard Stepetin, 45, has been charged with sexual assault in the second degree after a 24-year-old woman reported that he had sexual intercourse with her while she was unconscious and incapacitated.

Assistant District Attorney David Martin is representing the state of Alaska in this trial. In his account of the night, he described Stepetin as taking advantage of an intoxicated woman in a vulnerable situation. He said that the woman had passed out in Stepetin’s home at a late night gathering in January, and that Stepetin then took her to his bedroom and locked the door, despite another friend’s request that the alleged victim be taken to her own home. Stepetin then allegedly assaulted the woman that morning while alone in the house. In his words, he described the woman as “wak[ing] up not from a nightmare but to a nightmare.”

The Coast Guard and the Alaska State Troopers will be teaming up this weekend for Operation Dry Water, an annual initiative that aims to discourage drug and alcohol use on boats.

Megan Peters with the Alaska State Troopers says that Operation Dry Water is meant to be more informative than punitive.

“It’s not just so we can bust people for BUI. We don’t like going around giving tickets or arresting people. That’s not the main purpose of our job,” says Peters. “Overall, law enforcement’s main goal is to really get people to just follow the laws and be safe.”