An Utqiagvik man is accused of throwing a knife toward a woman and instead striking a 1-year-old child in the head, according to charging documents.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An Utqiagvik man is being charged after allegedly throwing a knife toward a woman but instead striking a 1-year-old child in the head, according to Michael Elliot Quagin Leavitt-Brower, 23, is charged with two counts of third-degree assault, both class C felonies, court records show.
According to a probable cause statement by North Slope Borough Police Officer Scott Senatore, police were called shortly after 3 p.m. on May 19 after a family member reported that Leavitt-Brower, described as mentally unstable, threw a knife that hit the caller’s 1-year-old son. Officers were requested at Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital in Utqiagvik, where they contacted the child’s mother, Melanie Pikok, the statement said.
Officers saw that the child had purple discoloration on the left side of their forehead and swelling that increased during the interview, according to the statement. Pikok told police Leavitt-Brower became upset during a conversation, grabbed a knife and threw it at her “with full force” as she was putting on her boots.
She said she ducked and the child began crying, but she did not realize the knife had struck the child until she got into a vehicle, the statement said. She noticed a head injury and rushed the child to the hospital for evaluation, according to the statement. Investigators later went to a residence on Nathaniel Olemaun Jr. Boulevard, where the incident was reported to have happened, the statement said.
A relative told officers Leavitt-Brower threw a butter knife that hit the baby, and another relative said she witnessed the incident, according to the statement. Police said Leavitt-Brower admitted he intended to hit Pikok with the knife and told officers he did not care when they said the child had been struck instead, according to the statement.
Court records show one count alleges Leavitt-Brower recklessly caused physical injury to a child under 12, and the injury would cause a reasonable caregiver to seek medical attention. The second count alleges he recklessly placed Pikok in fear of imminent serious physical injury by means of a dangerous instrument — a knife. Leavitt-Brower was arrested and taken to the North Slope Borough Correctional Center, the statement said.
The charging document says prosecutors consider the case to involve domestic violence under Alaska law because the defendant and the child are cousins. Three killed in Memorial Day crash on Seward Highway Artist behind Anchorage whale mural says federal law was violated when Dallas work was painted over for FIFA World CupUPDATE: AST explains situation leading up to fatal officer-involved shooting in Utqiaġvik
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