Anchorage police officers cleared by state for use of force in downtown shooting
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The Office of Special Prosecutions recently found two Anchorage police officers were justified in their use of force when they shot and wounded a 22-year-old man last month in Downtown Anchorage.
The 11-page document sent to Anchorage Police Department Chief Sean Case outlines the details that transpired around 2:25 a.m. on June 1 when Kaleb Bourdukofsky shot and killed 25-year-old Diego Joe behind the Pioneer Bar on Fourth Avenue after the two had a physical altercation.
Bourdukofsky was seen on numerous surveillance videos running from police with both arms raised while still holding his pistol before two officers shot him six times after multiple commands to drop his weapon were ignored. The document names Officers Jordan Varak and Parker Boydston as two officers involved in the shooting.
“The officers acted in lawful self-defense, defense of others, and in pursuit of a dangerous fleeing armed suspect when they used deadly force against Bourdukofsky,” the document states. “Filing any criminal charges against either Officer Varak or Officer Boydston is not legally supportable.”
While both officers were reported to have been equipped with APD-issued body cameras, what remains unknown as of Thursday is why one of the officer’s cameras was not working properly at the time of the incident.
According to the document, a surveillance video in the rear of the Pioneer Bar captures the fight between the two men before Bourdukofsky is seen pulling a gun and shooting Joe multiple times, as well as another man, Dominic Santillana, in the leg.
Bourdukofsky was later charged with murder in the first and second degree, as well as misconduct involving weapons and assault, both in the second degree.
Both Boydston and Varak were already in the area on bar break patrol when they heard the shots fired and responded.
In a June 4 interview with APD detectives outlined in the state’s review, Boydston said he heard a “rapid succession of gunfire” and witnessed people crouching and running westbound across H Street.
In Varak’s June 5 interview with detectives, he also said he heard the rapid succession of gunfire, noting 10 or 15 gunshots followed by people screaming and running eastbound on West Fourth Avenue. Varak added that based on what he was seeing and hearing, he retrieved his SWAT AR-15 rifle to respond to what he believed to be an active shooter incident. It was shortly after exiting his vehicle that he saw a man walking with a pistol in his hand, according to the state’s document.
At 2:27 a.m., both officers are seen on Boydston’s body camera discharging their weapons at Bourdukofsky after he ignores numerous commands to drop his gun. The Anchorage Fire Department’s patient care report states Bourdukofsky was shot six times; once in the right bicep, once in his left shoulder, two to his upper back, one directly under his right arm in the midaxillary line, and once in the upper left hamstring/buttocks area.
Boydston’s APD-issued body camera captured 18 minutes and 39 seconds of audio, beginning 60 seconds into the footage.
Varak was also equipped with an APD-issued body camera; however, the quality was said to be “noticeably lower than that of Officer Boydston’s body camera.”
Varak’s footage is 15 minutes and 58 seconds long, and there is no audio because the camera did not activate as Varak exited the patrol vehicle. Varak explained that he didn’t realize the camera had failed to activate until after the shooting, at which point he manually activated it.
When asked why or how Varak’s body camera failed to work properly, the police department told Alaska’s News Source it did not have answers to those questions.
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