Wrongful death lawsuit against Mountain Village concerns 2024 police station fire

Louise Chiklak has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Mountain Village over the death of Lawrence Chiklak, who died in an October 2024 fire at the village police station while village police were detaining him.

The lawsuit, filed Oct. 15 in Bethel Superior Court, names the city as the only defendant, and the plaintiff has demanded a jury trial, according to the court docket. Judge Nathaniel Peters is assigned. No attorney is listed for either side.

Alaska State Troopers were notified of the fire at the Mountain Village Police Department at 6:30 am Oct. 25, 2024, according to the troopers' report. Two men were being detained there by the village police department. One was evacuated. The other was found dead and was later identified as Chiklak, 39, of Mountain Village. A village police officer was treated for minor injuries at a Bethel-area hospital.

A preliminary investigation determined that the fire started in one of the occupied holding cells and was likely started with a lighter by one of the two men detained, troopers said. They did not say which man. The fire significantly damaged about two-thirds of the building.

Village police were detaining both men for "Title 47 holds," troopers said. Title 47 of state law includes the provisions for emergency mental health detention and for protective custody of people who are intoxicated or incapacitated by alcohol or drugs. Troopers did not say which applied.

Troopers called the investigation active and ongoing and said Chiklak's body had been sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy. Archived copies of the troopers' report show no later update, and the report no longer appears on the troopers' website.

Mountain Village is a second-class city on the lower Yukon River in the Kusilvak Census Area.