“I cannot go down for this,” Agli reportedly told police before he ran off after being pulled over for DUI.
DILLINGHAM: A little past 8 p.m. on January 9, Bristol Bay Borough police were notified that Joel "Sonny" Agli, 39, had taken a truck that wasn’t his from a residence and driven off. Minutes later, officer John Rhyshek spotted the truck traveling east on the Alaska Peninsula Highway.
In his report, Rhyshek said the truck swerved all over the road as he followed it for the next two and half miles. When the truck eventually pulled over, Rhyshek approached the driver's side window and noticed what appeared to be an intoxicated Sonny Agli behind the wheel and an open 12-pack of beer on the floor.
Officer Rhyshek tried to arrest Algi for driving on a revoked license. He wrote that Agli could barely keep from falling over when he was outside of the vehicle, but before he was handcuffed, Agli made a break for it.
Rhyshek grabbed him and the two men wrestled in the snow. Unable to subdue Agli, Rhyshek said he then shot him with his taser, but that the probes were ineffective through Agli's heavy winter clothing.
Agli slipped away over an embankment and ran off along King Salmon Creek.
Other officers followed Agli’s "disoriented" footprints through the snow for about a mile, but were unable to apprehend him. The police department said he was arrested the following day.
The 39-year-old has prior DUI convictions from 2005 and 2011, so prosecutors will charge this DUI as a felony. He’s also facing six additional misdemeanors relating to vehicle theft, driving on a revoked license, and resisting arrest.
Agli was released from custody after posting $2500 bail.