What transpired next depends on who you talk to and is the reason why Wilde, a 71-year-old gold miner from Central, is on trial for allegedly swerving his boat at the two rangers during a short but dramatic chase that ended with Wilde handcuffed on the riverbank.
“Everything just kind of blew up,” Wilde said, describing the scene that led to his Sept. 16 arrest in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.
After three days of testimony from a half dozen witnesses, there is no debate that Wilde cursed out the two rangers when they flagged him down for a boat inspection on a remote stretch of the Yukon River between Eagle and Circle, or that he refused to stop his boat in the middle of the river.
Neither is there any question that one of the rangers pointed a pistol then a shotgun at Wilde, his 74-year-old wife, Hannelore, and his 66-year-old friend, Fred Schenk, in order to get him to pull his boat over.
What is unclear, and will be up to a judge to decide in the non-jury trial, is whether Wilde was attempting to flee from the rangers or if he was simply heading for shore.
Not the Unabomber
During testimony Thursday in federal court, Wilde said he was simply looking for a safe place to park his boat because shutting it down in the middle of the Yukon River, as the rangers instructed him to do, was dangerous.
“On September 16, did you have any plans to flee to Canada?” his attorney, Bill Satterberg, asked him as a crowd of about 25 courtroom spectators looked on.
“No sir,” Wilde answered.
“Did you have any plans to disappear up the Nation River or the Kandik River or Coal Creek and become the Unabomber?” Satterberg asked.
“No sir,” Wilde replied again.
“Was it your intention to outrun the rangers?” Satterberg asked.
“No sir,” Wilde responded a third time.
But prosecutor Stephen Cooper, assistant attorney for the U.S. government, suggested Wilde had no intention of stopping his boat and his hostility toward the National Park Service ignited the fireworks that followed.
“You were challenging their authority to stop you on the river, weren’t you?” Cooper asked Wilde during cross-examination.
“Yes,” Wilde answered with a shrug of his shoulders. “I guess.”
Testimony in the three-day trial, which has attracted the attention of Alaskans and politicians who question the authority and attitude displayed by the National Park Service, ended Thursday with Wilde telling his side of the story.
Closing oral arguments are scheduled for noon today, after which attorneys for both sides will have two weeks to file written arguments and another week after that to file responses to those arguments. A verdict from federal magistrate Scott Oravec isn’t expected until the second week of May.
Wilde’s side
On Thursday, Wilde said he was traveling up the Yukon River on a moose hunting trip with Hannelore and Schenk when they came around a bend and saw another boat coming downstream.
At first, Wilde said, he thought the boat was in trouble because it had slowed down and a man on the bow was signaling to him. But as he got closer, Wilde said he recognized the boat as belonging to the Park Service with two park rangers aboard. The ranger on the bow of the boat, Joe Dallemolle, told Wilde to turn his boat off so he could board it for a safety inspection.
That didn’t sit well with Wilde.
“I was kind of frustrated,” he said. “I thought I was going to help somebody and now I’m going to get pushed around.”
Shutting down
In addition, Wilde said he didn’t feel it was safe to shut the engine off on his heavily loaded 21-foot riverboat in the middle of Alaska’s biggest river because it might not start again and there was a possibility of drifting onto a sandbar or gravel bar.
Wilde cussed the rangers out, told Dallemolle he wouldn’t stop in the middle of the river, went back into the boat’s cabin and powered it up. Wilde testified he steered his boat toward an eddy about one-quarter of a mile upstream that was the best place to land a heavy boat.
Guns drawn
Wilde said he was heading toward the eddy when his wife told him the Park Service boat was beside them and Dallemolle was pointing a pistol at them.
According to earlier testimony from Dallemolle, the ranger put the pistol away and retrieved a shotgun that he pointed at Wilde. It was only then that Wilde turned toward shore, the ranger testified, though Wilde claimed he never saw a shotgun.
The chase lasted about 30 seconds.
At no point, Wilde told Satterberg, did he swerve his boat toward the rangers’ boat and the closest the two boats got was about 20 feet. Dallemolle and the other ranger, Ben Grodjesk, testified Wilde’s boat came within three feet of their boat at one point and Grodjesk had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
When Wilde came ashore, he said he hustled off the front of the boat and dropped his anchor because he was worried that his 100-pound German Shepherd, Ally Z, would jump off the boat and he didn’t want the dog to confront the rangers.
Asked what happened when he got on shore, Wilde grinned and said, “I got my butt kicked.”
Wilde, a barrel-chested man with an ample midsection, said he walked toward the two young rangers with his arms out and palms up, asking, “What are you doing? Why are you doing this?” in reference to the rangers brandishing weapons. Both rangers testified that an irate Wilde approached them with his fists clenched, as if ready to fight.
Wilde said he had only taken a couple steps when Grodjesk took him down, though he wasn’t quite sure how. With Grodjesk on top of him, Wilde said he had a hard time breathing.
“I was fighting to get my breath and couldn’t do it with his knees in my back,” Wilde said, adding that he also was suffering from leg cramps.
The rangers testified Wilde resisted by holding his hands under his chest and refusing to be handcuffed. They said it wasn’t until they threatened to use Tasers on him that he stopped resisting.
Cross-examination
During his cross-examination, Cooper asked Wilde why he kept walking toward the rangers on the riverbank when they told him to stop.
“Because you wanted to protect your dog?” Cooper asked.
“That was part of it,” Wilde responded.
“What was the other part?” Cooper queried.
“I have no answer for that,” Wilde said.
Cooper also questioned Wilde’s assertion the section of river the rangers wanted him to stop in was dangerous. He referred to a picture Schenk took of the rangers’ boat as Wilde was initially approaching it.
“There’s a ranger standing on the front of the boat with flat, calm water that looks like a mirror; can you tell me where the danger is?” Cooper asked.
“Underneath it,” Wilde said.
Contact staff writer Tim Mowry at 459-7587.
Also Denali National Park has a great relationship with the community and has many events in the community, works on educational projects with the community, has many local employees,brings a lot of employment and money into that community.And I am proud to have worked for NPS as a seasonal employee,having worked with some of the nicest people there I ever met, and that includes their LEOs. I never witnessed any overbearing or inappropriate behavior. If there was it is dealt with and disciplined.
YCR is an established fact. Those residents are having their hunting rights in that park protected by those rangers. They are on the river to help them out in case of accident and are trained as emts. If residents have a problem, talk to the ranger, don't refuse to talk, and if that ranger does something you don't like have a talk with the Superintendent. Don't act hateful and defiant because that gets you nowhere. Just like the state govt. behaves when cooperation and compromise with OUR govt. is a better policy.
I have received safety and license checks from State Troopers - they typically start out very politely and usually have the good judgement to pick a convenient time and place - usu NOT in the middle of a river while one is under way and full speed. I have years and years of approaching the public on rivers, lakes, in very remote areas as well as in fishing ports. I've been yelled at a few times too but there is a way to do this right and the officers in this case are all wrong. I've made 1,000's of contacts and may have even followed some boaters a mile or 2 to get information from them. But I tried to do it when it worked best for them - I had a lot better luck than these NPS guys. Those officers should have recognized that they could easily find this guy later at a time more convenient and safe. They absolutely failed in the common sense department and were too caught up in what they believed was their authority - I call it abuse and disrespect for the public - their employer.
Now, there ARE good NPS folks I know and respect and in some parks they are learning to teach the new staff manners and the local practices.
These rangers acted appropiately and pointed guns at a man that was performing a felony, no doubt has guns in his boat, and tried to hit the rangers boat and then fight them. Hmmm. I'm sure if they did anything wrong, the NPS would have concluded that and Satterberg most definetly would have gotten a copy of that report, especially if its true he charged Wilde $20,000. Damn now there's the crime.
About time people in Central and Circle get a life and find something else to do since they can't mine anymore and they have few jobs. Seems like that leaves only one thing to do, find someone to hate: Federal Gov't's a good target. And in those towns the only Feds are the NPS, that protects their lands so they can keep hunting on them.
Seems like most other places in Alaska are ok with having the NPS around. Grow up! NPS has been in Alaska far before Alaska was a state, and probably longer than anyone in Central or Circle has been alive. I'm not supporting NPS, but I'm glad they're here and I'm tired of people with nothing better to do than complain. If you want to change it, (like the last article about this trial says) petition your senators and reps to make changes.
See what this is, oldowl? Who gave NPS the authority to draw a shotgun on someone because of "defiance"?
People aren't "making things up" about the NPS. It's really as bad as they say.
Sadly, you yourself, in what you say, to some extent illustrate what's bad. Not terribly surprised you never saw anything wrong. You wouldn't. You'd think it was all okay.
As a past NPS employee I know that NPS does not tolerate any bad behavior by employees. Having worked closely with law enforcement in one seasonal job I had I never met or witnessed any type of behavior that was overbearing or anything posters on here MAKE UP out of their heads on hearsay about NPS. It is one of the finest departments in our government - not perfect, as none are, but not as described by people below.
This is an excellent point, and I thank you for it.
I keep waiting for someone from NPS to step forward to criticize the behavior of the rangers, but you are exactly right--NPS doesn't see the atrocious behavior of the rangers as requiring criticism.
NPS wouldn't have gone ahead with this trial if it had. NPS condones this behavior. This is really, truly shocking, now that I think about it.
Had NPS by then determined the boat was unregistered?
It's not hard to pick out the bloggers who have some kind of hidden agenda.
It's a bit scary, because what you are trying to justify is very seriously wrong.
It's unheard of for a trooper to draw a shotgun and aim because some car failed to halt immediately, say in the middle lane of University Avenue at five o'clock on a Friday. A car pulling into Geraghty Avenue before stopping would be doing everyone on the road a favor, including the trooper.
Even if it did take thirty seconds extra.
People who think NPS can be exonerated here must be missing the forest for the trees.
Gestapo is the exact word that comes to my mind. Maybe we're on the top of whatever slippery slope it is descending down to that hellish hole, but that's no less reason to be deeply, deeply concerned.
Once again:
ANILCA, Title XIII,paragraph 1319: "Nothing in this Act shall be construed as limiting or restricting the power and authority of the United States or ...
1)as affecting in any way any law governing appropriation or use of or Federal right to water on lands within the state of Alaska..."
CFR36 (regs. for Park Service):
CFR36,Sec.1.2,3:"Waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States located within the boundaries of a National Park system..."
3.5: "Authorized persons may at any time stop or board a vessel to examine documents,licenses,or permits..."
3.3:"The superintendent may require a permit for use of a vessel within a park area..."
Part II,sec.2.3:"The regulations contained in this section apply, regardless of land ownership,on all lands and waters within a park area that are under the legislative jurisdiction of the United States."
Mr. Wilde was clearly guilty of not having a boat registration,and by fleeing from rangers made it look like he may have been guilty of much more. His verbal abuse and attitude did not help him in the least.
Did they leave their sidearms on the US side? There is no waiver for the possesion of handguns in Canada for foreigners, PERIOD. A serious firearms crime was likely commited when these "rangers" brought their firearms into Canada. If they didn't see the monuments and cut brush line marking the border, their GPS would let them know they were too far upriver. Maybe that is why it was turned off.... Or maybe they didn't wish to document their excursion.
Of course, they would be above the laws that others must adhere to. What about the carbon "footprint" burning all those fossil fuels for their "joy" ride into Canada? I thought the NPS was "green" and concerned for preserving the earth and the whole rest of the alarmist rhetoric.
Aside from the boat registration, what DID Wilde actually DO that was "criminal"? And, as is very likely, these "rangers" purjured themselves under oath, and are lying, what consequences will they face? Termination, loss of their retirement benefits, criminal prosecution? Does endangering people's lives have consequences? If Wilde failed to register his boat and was rude to parkies, should his wife and friend be threatened with the loss of their lives and/or limbs?
NPS employees, you are incompetent, waste of taxpayer resources and an embarrassment to this country. If the NPS does not clean up its' own act, one or more convictions from this fed magistrate will do nothing to clear your name.
I'll try not to make redundant comments.
First, I've had the misfortune of having to paddle a fully loaded riverboat with a dead engine- it is nearly impossible, and I would never intentionally kill my motor in the middle of a body of flowing water with a fully loaded boat. Things can happen- and do. It would be irresponsible to do so- especially with passengers, and it seems irresponsible of any authority to request it.
My second comment is this; Does the national park service endorse and approve of the use of deadly force by their agents (park rangers) in cases of non-registered boats fleeing them, with no other signs of additional crimes being committed? Really? Even if the boat had been steered toward them at a point, no contact had been made.
I don't care who you think is in the right here, do you really think it's OK for park rangers to aim loaded weapons at a boat full of people, for these infractions? I have to say, gestapo is the first word that comes to my mind.
As long as they contained their resource wasting activities to their offices and "interpretation" center they have been barely tolerated.
They have become increasingly dangerous and a threat to public safety. What crime have they ever prevented or solved, ever? Who authorized modifying the boat the "rangers" were using and installing a motor well over the boats' rating? Could not the actual Coast Guard charge these thugs and their supervisors for unsafe boating? Can the NPS boats themselves pass a real Coast Guard inspection? Do the rangers have Coast Guard Captain's licenses? How would a law enforcement officer not know the load of the firearm he is pointing at public members? Pointing a firearm at live people from the deck of a boat, amongst the waves caused by the two boats is a very dangerous move. If there was a buckshot load and the ranger pulled the trigger, would there not be collateral damage, as in Wilde's wife or friend being killed or maimed? Was any action by Wilde sufficient to justify the risk to the others onboard?
What violation triggered the "law" officers to approach Mr. Wilde's boat in the first place? Why do they not limit their efforts to the preserve itself? Do federal law enforcement officers pull people over in traffic for turn signal, speeding or other infractions on the highways?
Wilde was in danger of fleeing to Canada?!?! This is a real stretch. The NPS has repeaters and can communicate on their fm frequency radios up and down the river, and contact the Yukon authorities. The time and gas Wilde needed to cover the 80 miles or so, to the border is a very unusual justification to use armed force for a registration violation. The size and weight of his boat would preclude an "escape" very far up the Kandik or Nation Rivers.
Comparing these clowns to the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei) is an insult. The Gestapo were very effective at terrorizing the public and they were very familiar with the use and effect of the weapons they were issued. These "rangers" are amateurs; the disturbing aspect is that their behavior traumatized a survivor from the real Gestapo experiences.
One of the larger issues presented by this and other NPS actions; where is their management? Why is a culture of amateur terrorism tolerated and encouraged? Why is the public tolerating these slippery steps toward annulling our constitutional rights and rule of law?
If this were an isolated incident of rogue rangers, who were immediately terminated after the incident, it would be understandable. The fact that the NPS is pursuing charges against Wilde with tacit approval all the way up their chain of command should result in:
1) Resignation of the NPS Superintendant in DC.
2) Firing of Dudgeon and the Alaska Regional Superintendant.
3) Full investigation and review of personnel, training, policies, safety procedures and full apology to Wilde and the public at large.
Anything short of this indicates that the NPS is pursuing policies of intimidation and thwarting the principles of the rule of law.
The State of Alaska must resist the assault on its sovereignty and the resulting loss of freedom by it’s' citizens.
1)yeah, the boat rating was an interesting set back. I wish I could remember the model of their boat to check that fact. That's pretty bad on the rangers if their running a motor almost twice the rating of the boat.
2) gotta say, the shotgun question was interesting too, but the ranger said he couldn't recall, it was pretty clear he just didn't remember. 6 months later... there have been a number of things both sides didn't remember. I'm sure he knew at the time. Its his gun!!
3)that is what the rangers said, and wilde said he didn't. My opinion is out on that, But his story did start to make less sense on why he was clearly right in front of the rangers boat almost 20 feet from his when he was forced to the ground. He said there were no guns, then he said there was after he was questioned by cooper. I know I wouldn't be walking into the face of a cop that just pulled a gun on me, whether I was trying to ask them a question or fight them. (just read the statements in the arcticle when he was pressed by cooper about why he approached them)
The pictures show that spot where he was forced to the gorun and his wife confirms it. FACT: The pictures do NOT show him setting an anchor. It shows an anchor set 20 minutes later. who set it is disputed. The rangers say Fred set it, and Jim and Fred say otherwise. Who knows. I think that certainly raises question, but it doesn't mean they lied under oath. If that was clear then Satterberg would have declared they perjured themselves; and the judge would have charged them. No evidence either way, so again...stick to the facts, or point out the actual testimony in these posts. Jumping the gun just does a disservice to both parties, both sides, and to common sense.
4) My deepest sympathies to Honey, I just think that's horrible. I dont' think rangers can be compared to the Gestapo. That was piss poor judgement by Satterberg, but I see what he was trying to do. It is tragic, and I just hope that whatever happened on the beach that day hasn't brought back all those memories to Honey. What a shame. Props to Honey for living through that trama and dealing with it.
I too hope the transcripts are released, at least if anyone that wasnt' there actual cares by that time. I'm sure I won't in a few weeks. Of course I was there and heard the testimony. Although I eagerly await the judgement, as I'm sure Wilde does. Just sorry he has to wait even longer now.
I do think that whatever the judgement, it certainly doesn't mean the system is broke. Either way it means its working. I saw good arguments from both sides, which is just what the court is supposed to do. I though the judge was fair on all issues that he addressed and everyone was civil. I do take pause at Satterberg though. I feel like he was showboating headline news and going off on things that would never sway a judge. He was clearly playing to the audience, not the judge, and I think that really hurt Wilde's defense. He paid a lot of money and Satterberg is not doing a good job making sense out of the events. The feds definetly seem a bit more logical to follow, although they certainly haven't fully proven any yet in my mind either. (except of course the registration) Wilde needs a better lawyer, one that actually cares about his client, not his name in the paper.
Now to let some facts out that haven't been mentioned in the paper. This is from the trial that I was at:
1) Rangers in a boat rated for a maximum of 115 hp motor with a 200 hp Honda on the back (who should be checked for a safety inspection?)
2)The Ranger who pointing the shotgun at the Wilde's did not know what type of round was in the chamber (the other ranger testified he had loaded it earlier with buckshot and slugs with a slug in the chamber).
3)The rangers both testified that Mr.Wilde jumped out of the boat and immediately charged them with fists clinched (photographic evidence clearly showed that Wilde had placed the boat's anchor on the beach before he approached the rangers (both rangers lied under oath).
4)Wilde's wife described her first encounter with someone pointing a gun at her was at the age of 8 in Germany by the Gestapo invading her family's home. (what a tramatic event for her!).
Like I said early, I hope the complete transcripts are released so everyone can see the truth. If Mr. Wilde is found guilty of anything other than not having a registered boat, then the system is broke and we should all be worried.
And it appeared that both rangers were experienced boaters in alaska's rivers, (although clearly not long on the Yukon) as is Jim. One spent his entire life in rural alaska and apparently boating worse rivers than the Yukon (which is about any river in Alaska in comparison). Wilde would know this too, that's why he, his wife, Fred, and the expert witness were not able to explain why it was dangerous in that section of the river, only "several miles downstream, maybe" or "maybe something underneath"
Even the expert testified that the Yukon is between 6-8 mph, that's not alot of difference. The Yukon river is not ever a "thin highway" its almost 1/2 mile wide. Of course Jim still might have felt unsafe. But if you know him, you'll know that he'll cooperate with a cop, but it will be on as much of his terms as possible. So I think he just pushed too far and miscalculated his game of poker with the rangers. And they stopped him before he could figure out his terms.
Now to the pointing guns. It sounds somewhat legitimate given the testimony or atleast the frame of minds the rangers were in. Arguable if they actually needed to, but it seems reasonable given what they saw and heard and knew at the time. They didn't draw them until after Wilde went from "stopped" to full power and away from them. (and forget to tell the rangers he was headed to land, if in fact he was). But that's a whole nother story to get into.
Check out the testimony.