'I don't know how I can make it right' Snowmachiner talks before arrest 
 
 UPDATE: 
 
 A 26-year-old Nulato man says he was returning home from Koyukuk after a night of drinking when he struck Aliy Zirkle and Jeff King's teams in the early hours of Saturday with his snowmachine. 
 
 Arnold Demoski told Channel 2 News that when he woke up this morning and heard what happened to the mushers, he checked his snowmachine and knew he'd done it. The 2016 Ski-Doo was missing a cowling, or hood. Fresh, rust-colored stains marked the siding. 
 
 Demoski says he does not remember the collisions, which the Iditarod described as apparently intentional attacks. He also says he did not return to harass Zirkle later on the trail but says he wanted to check to make sure she was okay. He didn't have the courage to approach her and feared people would learn he had been drinking and driving, he said. 
 
 At first, Demoski said, he considered running and hiding. He said he called the village police officer to confess the crime. 
 
 "I just want to say I'm sorry," he said. 
 
 VIDEO: Jeff King describes moment a snowmachine struck his team, killing 1 dog 
 
 A natural resources coordinator for the village tribal council, Demoski said Jeff King was his favorite musher growing up. He made signs for the four-time champion as a child, he said. 
 
 When asked if he thought he should go to jail, Demoski said that he did. "For at least some time," he said, adding he hoped he wouldn't have to. 
 
 Troopers arrested Demoski late Saturday morning. He faces two counts of third degree assault, one count of reckless endangerment, one count of reckless driving and five counts of fifth degree criminal mischief. 
 
 "I just want to say I'm sorry." Snowmachiner apologizes for striking dogs 
 
 The Nulato Tribal Council issued a statement saying they were 'deeply saddened' by what happened. "We are disturbed and saddened that celebrated Iditarod veteran dog teams led by Jeff King and Aliy Zirkle were struck by a resident of our village," the statement said. "Nulato recognizes the complex behavioral health issues that impact our village and we ask for prayers as we seek wellness for all." 
 
 "He's a good kid. It's too bad alcohol got the best of him." -Nulato Mayor Maurice McGinty, on arrested snowmachiner pic.twitter.com/E5iob9mt3U — Kyle Hopkins (@kylehopkinsAK) March 13, 2016 
 
 Demoski said he struggles with alcohol. "It's ruining my life," he said. 
 
 Carrie Skinner, Jeff King's Husky Homestead Tours, wrote in statement to Channel 2 News that Nash was the grandson of famous lead dog, Salem. 
 
 "His brother, Crosby, was his best friend in the kennel & they would play like puppies for hours!," Skinner wrote. "He was a leader, a strong puller, & lovingly dedicated to his humans." 
 
 Of the two other dogs injured in the crash, Banjo and Crosby, King said one might have a fractured leg. "Another is better, but in shock, with an impact injury of some kind." 
 
 A veterinarian at the riverside checkpoint said she was not allowed to describe details of the injuries, referring questions to a race judge. 
 
 "We can't talk about it," she said. "But we've been crying a lot." 
 
 ORIGINAL STORY: Iditarod frontrunners Jeff King and Aliy Zirkle were attacked by a snowmachiner on their way to the Nulato checkpoint Saturday, resulting in the death of one dog and injury to several others, Iditarod race officials wrote in a press release. 
 
 In the early hours of Saturday, as Zirkle made her way to Nulato, officials say a snowmachiner "repeatedly tried to harm her and her team." One of Zirkle's dogs was hurt in the attack. 
 
 "Reportedly the snowmachiner made three separate attempts or passes at her including turning around several times," official Danny Seavey said in a video for the Iditarod Insider. "She actually used one of the trail-markers to defend herself - the four-foot pieces of lath out there that are marking the trail." 
 
 According to a report by Alaska State Troopers, the snowmachiner attacked Zirkle at one point on the trail and then returned to meet her about 12 miles away from Nulato. "The snow machine revved up and was pointed at her and then finally left the area with no further injuries to Zirkle or her team," Troopers wrote. 
 
 Zirkle pulled up to the Nulato checkpoint at about 2:17 a.m. In a video by the Iditarod Insider, when asked how she was by a race official, she responded, "Really bad... Someone tried to kill me with a snowmachine." 
 
 About 12 miles out of Nulato, Jeff King's team was also attacked by a snowmachiner. King was hit from behind and his three-year-old dog, Nash, was killed. Two other dogs, Banjo, 2, and Crosby, 3, were injured, according to race officials. 
 
 A video of King arriving in Nulato at 3:25 a.m. by Iditarod Insider shows King telling race officials that he'd had 'big problems.' 
 
 "I was hit by a snowmachine. I have one dead and several hurt," King said to the official. 
 
 In an interview with Channel 2 News, King said the snowmachine approached him 'in a blur.' 
 
 "He went by me at high speed. It was so incredibly close -- my team was well lit, with lights and reflectors -- that it felt very intentional," King said. 
 
 King tried to perform triage first aid on his dying and injured dogs. "I stood there as my dogs struggled in pain, with broken limbs and in the throes of death, for one of them," King said. 
 
 A piece of cowling from the snowmachine broke off during the attack on King's team and the musher brought it with him to Nulato as evidence. 
 
 King requested medical treatment for his dogs at the checkpoint and did not report any injuries himself. 
 
 Husky Homestead Tours, King's kennel, wrote in a message to Channel 2 that their crew at home was sad about what happened but were thankful that it was not worse. "We also wish the best to Aliy as she continues to Nome," office manager Carrie Skinner wrote. 
 
 The Village Public Safety Office confirmed to Channel 2 News that soon after the incident, a Nulato man called and confessed but Alaska State Troopers have not yet publicly identified a suspect. 
 
 Both mushers plan to continue the race to Nome. ||||| The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race — Alaska's “Last Great Race” — was reeling in the wake of a suspected snowmobile assault on two dog teams along a remote section of the Yukon River that left one dog dead and two others seriously injured. 
 
 Alaska State Troopers said Saturday they had caught the snowmobiler responsible. They charged 26-year-old Arnold Demoski of Nulato, a community of about 350 people, with assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and criminal mischief after the incidents that left mushers Jeff King of Denali Park and Aliy Zirkle of Fairbanks badly shaken. 
 
 Both mushers said they believed Demoski, who has a history of assault, intentionally tried to run them down on the trail in the dark of night. 
 
 The Iditarod has witnessed dog deaths before after snowmobiles, or snow machines as they are commonly called in Alaska, accidentally veered into teams, but never a willful assault. 
 
 Some residents of Nulato speculated that Demoski might simply have been trying to scare the mushers and then ran into them accidentally. 
 
 In a taped interview with Anchorage television station KTUU, Demoski denied any intent to harm anyone. 
 
 “It not was intentional,” he said. “That's not me. I don't do stuff like that.” 
 
 Demoski gave similar statements to other media and claimed only to have been involved in an unfortunate accident while driving drunk. He did not know what had happened until sleeping off a night of drinking, he said. 
 
 According to his version of events, he was driving in an alcoholic blackout and only put the facts together after waking up to find his snow machine damaged and everyone in the village talking about the dog teams run down. 
 
 Jeff King Husky Homestead Nash, one of Jeff King's sled dogs, was killed by a snowmobile. Nash, one of Jeff King's sled dogs, was killed by a snowmobile. (Jeff King Husky Homestead) (Jeff King Husky Homestead) 
 
 Still, he somehow remembered going back to see whether Zirkle was OK, and then deciding he didn't want to stop and talk to her because he might get in trouble. 
 
 The 59-year-old King, a four-time Iditarod champ who suffered the loss of a dog named Nash, viewed the attack as intentional. He said his sled was well lit and easily visible when the snowmobile came screaming into it. 
 
 King estimated Demoski's machine was doing 80 mph when it went past the front of his dog sled and slammed into the musher's team with such force the snowmobile's cowling came flying off. King collected the cowling and brought it into the Nulato checkpoint with his dead and injured dogs in the sled. 
 
 The cowling matched that missing from Demoski's sled, which was parked in his yard. 
 
 Officials of the Iditarod and the Nulato Tribal Council were quick to blame alcohol for what happened and express sympathy for the two mushers. 
 
 “We are disturbed and saddened that celebrated Iditarod veteran dog teams led by Jeff King and Aliy Zirkle were struck by a resident of our village,” the tribe said in a written statement. “Nulato recognizes the complex behavioral health issues that impact our village and we ask for prayers as we seek wellness for all.” 
 
 Nulato is what is known as a “damp” village in rural Alaska, where alcohol laws are complicated. Some villages ban booze. Some allow it. And some like Nulato live in between. There are no bars or liquor stores in the community, but alcohol is not banned. About 20 miles upriver, Koyukuk, home to about 100 people, is a “wet'' village, where alcohol can be bought at the Last Chance Liquor Store. 
 
 The 46-year-old Zirkle, a three-time Iditarod runner-up, shared King's view that the snow machine assault looked intentional, not accidental. She twice told “Iditarod Insider,” a pay-per-view video news service run by Iditarod organizers, that the snowmobile driver “tried to kill me.” 
 
 According to state troopers, Zirkle was about five miles downriver from Koyukuk headed for Nulato when her dog sled was first hit on “the side by a snow machine and the snow machine turned around multiple times and came back at her before driving off.” 
 
 Those reports said the machine then went on down the river but later returned and approached her again about 12 miles out of Nulato. This time it aimed its headlight at her and revved its engine, but left without incident. Not long after, troopers allege the machine hit King's team from behind, killing the one dog and injuring five others, two seriously. 
 
 Demoski's mother said troopers and a Nulato village public safety officer came and took her son to jail around noon Saturday after his interviews with reporters who were in the village to cover the Iditarod race. 
 
 Janice Demoski was told her son was to be arraigned in Fairbanks on Sunday. She said she believed he had been in an accident. 
 
 “They say it was an accident, so I believe it was,'' she said in telephone interview. 
 
 The Demoskis are part of a large extended family in the Alaska Interior. Janice said Rudy Demoski, an Iditarod icon, is her husband's first cousin. Rudy, now 70 years old, ran the first Iditarod in 1974 and finished fourth. He grew up in a time when sled dogs were a way of life in Alaska. 
 
 Most of the dogs are gone from rural Alaska now, and the snow machine has taken over. 
 
 Among some villagers, the Iron Dog — a 2,000-mile race that follows the Iditarod route and goes well beyond it — has become more popular than the Iditarod. 
 
 Reached by telephone at his home, Rudy Demoski said he didn't want to talk about the incident. 
 
 “The bad part is my last name,” he said. 
 
 The Iditarod dog race is Alaska's most cherished sport. Though it has come under fire from animal-rights activists outside of the 49th state, few dare to speak unkindly of it in the North. 
 
 After leaving injured dogs in the care of race veterinarians in Nulato, both Zirkle and King were continuing north along the trail late Saturday afternoon. 
 
 Medred is a special correspondent. 
 
 ALSO 
 
 New snowstorm hits Sierra Nevada as 'March Miracle' continues 
 
 After scuffles in Chicago, Trump tells supporters he can unite the country. It's a hard sell 
 
 Without this Texas clinic, women with unwanted pregnancies would have to travel 230 miles or cross into Mexico ||||| This undated photo provided by Husky Homestead shows Banjo, a dog that was injured when a man drove a snowmobile into teams of two mushers near the front of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Saturday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A man suspected of intentionally driving a snowmobile into teams of two mushers near the front of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has been arrested in a Yukon River village. 
 
 Arnold Demoski, 26, of Nulato, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and six counts of criminal mischief. 
 
 Demoski spoke to KTUU-TV (http://bit.ly/1QPO4MH ), saying he was returning home from a night of drinking when he struck Aliy Zirkle and Jeff King's teams early Saturday morning. 
 
 The crashes killed one of King's dogs and injured at least two others. One of Zirkle's dogs also was injured. Iditarod officials at first reported King had been injured. But the four-time champion said later the snowmobile had missed both him and his sled. 
 
 Demoski said when he woke up Saturday morning and heard what had happened to the mushers, he checked his snowmobile and realized he had done it. The snowmobile was missing a part and had rust-colored stains, he said. 
 
 Demoski said he doesn't remember the collisions, which the Iditarod described as apparently intentional attacks. 
 
 "I just want to say I'm sorry," he said. 
 
 Zirkle, 46, who finished second three times from 2012 to 2014, was mushing from Kokukuk to Nulato, a run of less than 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) on the Yukon River, when she was hit, race marshal Mark Nordman said Saturday. 
 
 The snowmobile hit the side of Zirkle's sled about 5 miles (8.05 kilometers) outside of Koyukuk, turned around multiple times and came back at her before driving off, Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said by email. 
 
 The snowmobile reappeared 12 miles (19.31 kilometers) outside of Nulato. The driver revved up and was pointed at Zirkle before leaving, Peters said. 
 
 Demoski told KTUU that he did not return to harass Zirkle. He said he wanted to check to make sure she was OK. 
 
 One dog on Zirkle's team was bruised. Officials described the injury as non-life-threatening. 
 
 Zirkle reached Nulato and told a race official the incident had left her shaken. 
 
 "I'm really bad. Someone tried to kill me with a snowmachine," she said on a video posted to the Iditarod Insider webpage. Snowmachine is what Alaskans call snowmobiles. 
 
 King, a four-time Iditarod champion, was behind Zirkle and fared worse. When King reached the vicinity 12 miles outside of Nulato, his team was struck from behind by the snowmobile. 
 
 Nash, a 3-year-old male, was killed. Crosby, another 3-year-old male, and Banjo, a 2-year-old male, received injuries and are expected to survive. King told the Iditarod Insider the snowmobile narrowly missed him and his sled, but hit his dogs at high speed. 
 
 "One of my dogs was killed pretty much on the spot, and a couple others I gave first aid to the best I could and loaded them into my sled," he told the Iditarod camera crew. "I kind of felt like a triage ambulance." 
 
 It did not appear to be an accident, he said. "It seemed like an act of bravado," King said. 
 
 Rural Alaska communities have many wonderful people, he said, but they also have serious social problems. 
 
 "It is beyond comprehension to me that this was not related to substance abuse," King said, adding that "no one in their right mind would do what this person did." 
 
 King remained in Nulato early Saturday afternoon. 
 
 The race leader early Saturday afternoon was Brent Sass, who left the village of Kaltag at 8:20 a.m. 
 
 Zirkle rested four hours in Nulato and dropped one dog before heading back onto the Yukon River with 14 dogs in harness. She reached Kaltag at 10: 44 a.m., and after a nine-minute rest, left again in second place. 
 
 Current champion Dallas Seavey left Kaltag at 11: 24 a.m. in third place. His father, former champion Mitch Seavey, was in fourth place. 
 
 ___ 
 
 This story has been corrected to show the positions, records of Mitch Seavey and Dallas Seavey.
– The 26-year-old Alaskan who says he was driving blackout drunk when he hit two Iditarod sled dog teams Saturday, killing one dog and injuring others, has been arrested and charged on suspicion of assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, and six counts of criminal mischief, reports the Los Angeles Times. Arnold Demoski of Nulato is speaking quite freely with media, telling KTUU that the incident was not "intentional. That's not me. I don't do stuff like that." Mushers Jeff King and Aliy Zirkle, who were hit, beg to differ, telling authorities they believe the incident was intentional. King's 3-year-old dog, Nash, was killed. "One of my dogs was killed pretty much on the spot, and a couple others I gave first aid to the best I could and loaded them into my sled," King says, per the AP. "I kind of felt like a triage ambulance." Demoski says he woke up after the morning after a night of drinking to discover that his snowmobile was missing its hood and had fresh, rust-colored stains on its sides. He called the village police officer to confess, he says. Asked whether he should face jail, Demoski tells KTUU that although he hopes to avoid it, he probably should go "for at least some time."