As the parents of Ben Tikka, we are appalled at what the Alaska State Troopers did to our son.
We went to the hearing Tuesday, Sept. 10, at the Kenai Courthouse as they pleaded “not guilty” to beating our son with a taser gun, pepper spray, a police dog and physically with their boots kicking him as he was down on the ground.
These state troopers had no idea he was not even the person they thought they were there to arrest on May 25., 2024 Our son was wrongly accused and this arrest was for a misdemeanor, not a felony. There were additional troopers at the courthouse to support their fellow officers. There is a brotherly love to protect each other even when they do wrong. Never once did these state troopers show remorse for their actions.
We know these troopers fear they will lose their job, may go to jail, and possibly lose their pensions. Having grown up with an uncle as the district attorney of San Diego for over 20 years, and a cousin as a federal attorney, I have respected our law enforcement. But after this senseless brutal act by these two Alaska State Troopers, I question our officers. I am worried about our law enforcement who think they caught the right man, yet falsely accused another.
These state troopers need to be held accountable for their actions, and never let this happen again.
Our son said he heard them outside his vehicle before they broke his window, psyching themselves up like what a coach does before going out on the playing field. They wanted to do bodily harm, and our son was who they took it out on. The troopers “ASSUMED” they had Garrett Tikka, but they never correctly checked from all the computers they have in their cars. If they had run the license plate they would have seen the vehicle was registered to Ben Tikka’s dad, not Garrett Tikka or whoever. They never once listened to our son who said repeatedly while being beaten, “I am NOT Garrett Tikka. I am Ben Tikka.”
Our son said he feared for his life and yet these state troopers never stopped beating him. Not once did our son resist arrest, yet they kept beating him while he lay on the ground. We all know when you “assume it makes an ass out of you.”
We are shocked at the violent arrest they did to our son who had no warrants at the time. Our son was finally taken to the hospital much later, where he underwent two surgeries on his arm and shoulder. He was in the hospital for two days. And we were never once contacted until it was time for Ben to be released. He had over 300 stitches to his torso and arm from the dog bites.
We are just thankful the Kenai police officer who came upon the beating had his video camera on and filmed it. This officer had a conscience to come forward with this video.
If this could happen to someone with the same last name, we are worried for those victims with a common last name as Smith, Jones or Miller. Even the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, James Cockrell, said he was “sickened” at the conduct of these state troopers. “I’ve been with this department for 33 years, and I’ve never seen any actions like this before, by an Alaska State Trooper,” Cockrell said during an Aug. 15 press conference, according an article published in the Peninsula Clarion.
The troopers confiscated our son’s cellphone, and never returned to him. For all we know they broke it or kept it. The troopers impounded his vehicle even though he was wrongly accused and beaten. And we had to pay to get it back.
We know God has a plan for our lives. Yet this act of physical brutality was uncalled for for a misdemeanor, as well as a wrongly accused victim. We just hope justice will be served.