Clarise Larson

The former Juneau Police Department officer who slammed a man to the ground during an arrest this summer will not face criminal charges.

The state’s Office of Special Prosecutions cleared former JPD Officer Brandon LeBlanc for his use of force during the arrest. The July incident, which was recorded by a witness, circulated widely online and prompted a public outcry.

The man arrested during the incident, whose family has publicly identified him as Christopher Williams, Jr., appeared to lie unconscious for the remainder of the video. He was later medevaced out of town. 

Tuesday’s statement from the Office of Special Prosecutions says after a review of the evidence and an independent investigation conducted by the Alaska State Troopers’ Alaska Bureau of Investigation, the office determined “it would not criminally charge Officer LeBlanc for the incident.”

Following the July incident, Leblanc was placed on paid administrative leave. He later resigned from his position just a day before JPD released the body-worn camera footage of the arrest. 

In a legal summary of the incident from Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox, the office chastised the city for releasing the footage before the investigation was complete, saying it “indicates a lack of serious intent to allow for an independent review of the potential criminal charges.” 

The office urged the city to reconsider its policy mandating that the Juneau Police Department release body-worn camera footage no more than 30 days after an incident. 

In the letter, it stated that LeBlanc said he feared for his own safety during the incident and that he had been taught the “takedown maneuver” as part of training prior to his time in Alaska. He also told investigators that he thought he had learned a variation during a Department of Public Safety recertification training in 2024. But OSP says the technique was not taught during the training he attended.

Earlier this month, Juneau Police Chief Derek Bos said the department is taking action to reform its policies after conducting an internal investigation of the incident. He defended the department’s hiring of LeBlanc during a presentation to the Juneau Assembly in late September, saying he firmly believes that LeBlanc is “a good officer who made a very bad mistake.” 

A man previously sued LeBlanc for excessive force and battery while he served as an officer in Louisiana. A jury found LeBlanc not guilty.

The Norwegian Encore departs Juneau Tuesday night. It’s the last cruise ship of 2025, and it marks the end of a nearly 200-day tourism season. 

This year’s cruise season kicked off amid a lot of uncertainty. It began as the Trump Administration’s tariffs shook the global economy and dozens of residents in Juneau lost their jobs in waves of federal firings, leaving the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center with reduced staffing. 

The glacier is Juneau’s most popular tourist attraction, drawing more than 1 million people last year. The layoffs left the center barebones. But, Juneau’s Tourism Director Alix Pierce said other organizations stepped up to help U.S. Forest Service staff keep visitors safe this summer. 

“The situation at the glacier out there was really a testament to community collaboration and also how important that asset is to our community and visitor industry,” she said. 

The final tally of passengers who stepped off cruise ships into Juneau this year hasn’t been released yet, but Pierce said it’s expected to be between 1.6 and 1.7 million. Next year will be about the same, she said, but new measures are going into place to curb future growth. 

The 2026 season will be the first time that the city’s negotiated daily cap on passengers is in place. That will limit cruise ship visitors to 16,000 people on most days and 12,000 people on Saturdays. Right now, Juneau sees up to 21,000 visitors on the busiest days. Cruise ship companies also agreed to shorten Juneau’s season to exclude most of April and October. 

Pierce said the conversation on how to best manage cruise tourism in Juneau is far from over. 

“I think not having to brace for year-over-year growth and kind of understanding what the season is going to look like as we go into it has been helpful,” she said. 

Votes are still being counted for this year’s municipal election, which included a ballot question to create a seasonal sales tax starting next year. In preliminary results, voters appear to be rejecting the proposed increase during the summer months. 

The first ship of the 2026 season is slated to arrive on April 27 and the last is scheduled on Oct. 6.

The outcome of Juneau’s municipal election is beginning to take shape as preliminary results continue to roll in. The city clerk’s office released another batch of results that include ballots cast on Election Day on Friday evening. 

The results paint a similar picture compared to the first round results shared earlier this week. More voters appear to be in favor of Propositions 1 and 2, but oppose Proposition 3. 

Proposition 1 seeks to cap the rate the city uses to determine how much residents pay in property taxes each year. “Yes” votes narrowly outpace “no” votes by less than 200 votes. 

Proposition 2 would exempt essential food and residential utilities from local sales tax. Nearly 70% of voters are in favor of it passing so far. 

Proposition 3 would implement a new seasonal sales tax system next year to take advantage of cruise tourists. “No” votes lead by more than 1,500 votes. 

District 2 Juneau Assembly candidate Nano Brooks continues to grow his lead over incumbent Wade Bryson for his seat. Brooks now leads by more than 400 votes. 

Steve Whitney, Melissa Cullum and Jenny Thomas are now leading in the race for the three open seats on the Juneau Board of Education. Thomas surpasses Jeremy “JJJ” Johnson by 127 votes after trailing behind in previous results. 

Write-in candidate and current board president Deedie Sorensen continues to trail behind all other candidates. 

Voter turnout as of Friday’s results was just over 35%. The results shared are subject to change and more preliminary results will be shared in the coming weeks. The city will certify results on Oct. 21. 

A grand jury indicted a Juneau man Thursday on two counts of felony assault for allegedly attacking two Juneau Police officers during an arrest earlier this month. 

James Carteeti, 45, of Juneau, is currently out of custody on bail. 

According to charging documents, officers originally responded to Carteeti’s Mendenhall Valley apartment in early October after neighbors complained of loud music and movement coming from his place. Carteeti already had a warrant for his arrest for a different crime.  

Charging documents say Carteeti turned off the music when officers arrived and began to yell. He allegedly became hostile and slammed his door closed. 

It was then that the officers opened his door and told him he had a warrant for his arrest. Police say Carteeti began punching and kicking the officers as they tried to arrest him. The incident left one officer with bent glasses and a red mark on his face. Another officer was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital for an evaluation of his injuries. 

The Juneau Assembly upzoned more than 200 acres of city land for sale earlier this year in hopes of creating more housing opportunities throughout the city and borough. 

The rezones included land north and south of Grant Creek and west of the Bonnie Brae and Blacktail Subdivisions on Douglas Island, and some land in the Auke Bay area.

The hope was that by allowing for denser housing in those areas, it would entice private developers to build units there. But so far, nobody’s biting. That might be because a lot more work needs to be done to make the land buildable, and that work could be expensive. 

Dan Bleidorn, the city’s lands and resources manager, said the rezoning is just another strategy the city is using to try and tackle Juneau’s chronic housing shortage. 

“The goals of the rezones were to initiate a process in which those properties could be disposed of by the city, and developers could acquire them, or people could acquire them to build housing on,” he said. 

That’s especially needed as a U.S. Coast Guard Icebreaker is slated to be homeported in Juneau, bringing more than 100 crewmembers and their families to town in the coming years. It also comes as annual glacial flooding of the Mendenhall River threatens homes in the Mendenhall Valley, and major development projects are being proposed on North Douglas. 

High-density, multi-family is generally cheaper to buy or rent than a traditional single-family home. According to a study by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Juneau has had the highest average sale price for a single-family home in the state for the past two years.

“I think the rezones are important because it provides opportunity that wasn’t present prior to the rezones,” he said. 

Bleidorn said the rezones are just the first step in a long process to get housing built in those areas. But, just because the land is technically now up for sale, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee developers will want — or be able to afford — to build there. Bleidorn said just preparing the land to be developable will be a significant investment.

“I think some of the barriers to development include the fact that there’s no road frontage on a lot of these properties, and utilities are far away in some cases,” he said. 

That, paired with high interest rates and the cost of materials, continues to block developers from breaking ground on new projects.

For other city housing projects like the redevelopment of the Telephone Hill neighborhood downtown, the Assembly controversially chose to front millions of dollars to fund the first phase of demolition and site preparation in order to entice developers to build housing there. The city does not yet have a developer signed on to the project. Demolition is scheduled to begin in December. 

The Juneau Assembly similarly infused millions of dollars to spur the development of the Pederson Hill subdivision in 2017 to create more housing. Since then, private developers and individuals have bought some of the 86 lots to build single-family homes. 

Both projects have been met with skepticism, with people questioning the city’s role in influencing the housing market. Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said public subsidies on projects like these are a way to tuck in affordability requirements. 

“If it’s just left up to developers to kind of front all that principle, all that cash, that investment on their own, we’re gonna end up with one type of housing, right? Housing that they can make a profit on,” he said. 

Bleidorn said it’s not clear which direction the Assembly will choose to go on the land it rezoned. It depends largely on the interest – or lack thereof — from the private sector. He said, regardless, the rezones lay the groundwork for a future Juneau where more housing could finally be on the horizon.

“I really do think that these rezones will make a difference,” he said. “Maybe they’re more mid-term to long-term projects, but I think lining them up for future development is key.”

Preliminary results are in for Juneau’s 2025 municipal election. 

They show that most residents don’t want to implement a new seasonal sales tax system in Juneau next year, but are in favor of the two measures that aim to reduce the tax burden on individual residents.

According to the results shared by the city, 3,534 people voted no on Proposition 3 while 2,514 people voted yes — a 1,020-vote difference. 

Proponents say the change would take advantage of 1.7 million cruise passengers that come to town each summer, while giving year-round residents a break during the winter. Opponents say the system won’t actually save residents money in the long run. 

Meanwhile, early results show both Propositions 1 and 2 passing. Both were put on the ballot by an advocacy group called the Affordable Juneau Coalition.

Proposition 1 seeks to cap the rate the city uses to determine how much residents pay in property taxes each year. Results show yes votes are leading by less than 100 votes. 

Proposition 2 would exempt essential food and residential utilities from local sales tax. Votes in favor of the proposition led handily, with 4,173 people voting yes, while 1,867 people voting no.

District 2 Assembly candidate Nano Brooks narrowly outpaces incumbent Wade Bryson for his seat on the Assembly. Brooks is leading by a mere three votes. 

Incumbent Assembly members Greg Smith and Ella Adkison ran unopposed for their seats. Smith is seeking his third, three-year term on the Assembly, while Adkison is seeking her first full term. She was originally elected to the Assembly in 2023 to fill the remaining two years in the term of a member who resigned. 

Steve Whitney, Melissa Cullum and Jeremy “JJJ” Johnson are leading in the race for the three open seats on the Juneau Board of Education. Write-in candidate and current board president Deedie Sorensen trails behind all four candidates on the ballot by nearly 1,000 votes. 

Voter turnout as of Tuesday’s results was just under 22%. However, things could change significantly. The tally shared on Tuesday only includes ballots that were mailed in or dropped off before Election Day. That means there could be thousands of votes left to be counted. 

The results shared Tuesday night are subject to change —  more updated preliminary results will be shared by the city in the coming weeks. Results won’t be certified by election officials until Oct. 21. 

Find the latest election news at ktoo.org/elections.