A Bethel jury has awarded $140,000 to a man injured in the back of a police vehicle when the officer slid off the road and hit an electrical pole.
The crash occurred in 2014 when former Bethel Police Officer Aaron Fedolfi was driving the vehicle with Adrian Hoffman of Tununak handcuffed in the back seat.
According to police records, Fedolfi was speeding in icy conditions when he lost control of the vehicle and slid into an electrical pole, causing Hoffman’s head to slam into the car’s interior during the collision.
Both Fedolfi and Hoffman received minor injuries and were transported to the hospital for treatment. Hoffman says he blacked out on impact.
“I had a real big swollen forehead, broken nose, hurt neck and back, cut in the arm, [and a] couple black eyes,” Hoffman said.
Police records say that when another officer arrived on scene, the electrical pole was hanging by its wires and appeared cracked at the base.
Attorney Jim Valcarce represented Hoffman in the case and says that police footage shows Fedolfi securing his own seat belt but never buckling Hoffman’s.
The jury spent two days deliberating their decision and released the verdict Thursday.
Hoffman had been taken into police custody that night for causing a disturbance in a home while intoxicated. He was on felony probation at the time and served a short jail sentence for drinking alcohol.
Hoffman works as a Tribal Police Officer in Tununak. During a recess on one of the last days of the trial, he and his long-time girlfriend stepped into another courtroom and got married. They have four children together and Hoffman says the money is going towards his kids.
“All the money that I won, I’m not going to just burn it away,” he said. “I’m going to use it for good.”
Fedolfi is in Anchorage serving a one-year prison sentence for an unrelated crime. Earlier this year the State of Alaska charged him with one count of third degree attempted sexual assault and one count of official misconduct after attempting to force a Bethel woman to perform a sexual act on him while on duty.
Anna Rose MacArthur is a reporter at KYUK in Bethel.
