Assault charges have been dismissed against a former Assembly member who was arrested during a fight in downtown Sitka two years ago.
42-year old Aaron Bean was serving on the Sitka Assembly when he was arrested in the early morning hours of July 24, 2019. Police responded to a call of a “fight in progress.” On their arrival, officers arrested Bean and summoned an ambulance for another individual, who was transported to Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital.
Bean was subsequently charged with one count of Assault in the 4th Degree, and two counts of Disorderly Conduct — all misdemeanors. The charges were dismissed by the prosecution on November 9, 2021.
Although Bean’s case never went to trial, his attorney had filed notice with the court that he planned to argue that Bean acted in self-defense.
At the time of his arrest, Bean declined to comment on the matter. On the dismissal of the charges, however, he issued the following statement: “I committed none of the crimes alleged by the Sitka Police. The Sitka Police Department is a corrupt institution with corrupt leadership… Why is it that the citizens of Sitka are complacent with the leadership at the Police Department, and otherwise at city hall acting as if the law doesn’t apply to them?”
Bean was in the third year of a three-year term on the Sitka Assembly at the time of the incident. He ran for — and failed to win — reelection to his seat in October of that year.
