Two Alaska police officers are charged with brutal arrest in which the wrong man was hit with a stun gun and bitten by a police dog

Two Alaska State Troopers have been charged after they brutally attacked a man they believed to be a person with an arrest warrant and released a police dog that repeatedly bit him.

Sergeant Joseph Miller, 49, and dog handler Jason Woodruff, 42, were both charged with fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor, in connection with the May 24 incident in Kenai.

Kenai is a city on the Kenai River, southwest of Anchorage.

James Cockrell, head of the Alaska Department of Public Safety, said in a press conference on Thursday that body camera footage of the incident left him “sickened.”

“I have been with this department for 33 years and have never seen an Alaska State Trooper act like this before,” he told reporters.

Beaten with an electric shock device, kicked and repeatedly bitten

In the May 24 incident, Alaska State Troopers and Kenai Police were notified of a possible illegal vehicle camping trip at a dog park in Soldotna and were advised that the SUV was associated with Garrett Tikka.

There was an arrest warrant against Tikka because he had not served a ten-day prison sentence for driving without a license.

However, when police arrived at the car, they were unable to verify the identity of the occupant, Cockrell said. The man in the car was not Garrett Tikka, but his cousin Ben Tikka.

Cockrell said officers saw a man in the back seat of the vehicle and ordered him to get out. They said there was a warrant for his arrest. The man denied this and refused to get out.

Miller then smashed the rear window and sprayed pepper spray on the person in the back seat of the vehicle, Cockrell said.

When Tikka finally got out of the car, Miller kicked him, hit him on the back of the head or neck, and then stomped on his head, which was pinned to the ground and covered with shards of glass from the broken window, Cockrell said.

Miller used his Taser multiple times to handcuff the man, and Woodruff deployed his dog when the man began to comply with commands. The police dog repeatedly bit the man on Woodruff's command, Cockrell said, as he lay face down with his hands behind his back. Charging documents say the dog, named Olex, had also bitten his handler, Woodruff, minutes earlier.

Tikka, covered in blood, pleaded: “Please stop the dog. Please stop the dog,” the indictment states.

Eventually the man was handcuffed, other police officers administered first aid to him and he was taken to a nearby hospital for further treatment.

He was arrested on several charges, including fourth-degree assault for putting police officers in fear of physical harm. The Kenai District Attorney's Office later dropped the charges.

It was only when Tikka was taken to the hospital that the police realized they had the wrong man on their hands.

Ben Tikka had to undergo surgery for torn muscles, suffered a broken shoulder, cuts on his head and an open dog bite on his left upper arm.

Officials’ actions are “unacceptable”

After the incident, a standard review of use-of-force incidents involving police dogs was conducted. The commander who reviewed the incident concluded that “there may have been multiple violations of policy” and brought it to the attention of leadership. Cockrell then personally reviewed the body-worn camera footage and ordered a criminal investigation.

The case was investigated by the Alaska Bureau of Investigation and subsequently referred to the Alaska Department of Law's Office of Special Prosecutions, which filed criminal charges on Wednesday.

“To be clear, the actions of these two individuals are unacceptable to me. They are inconsistent with our training and our policy, and I know they are unacceptable to the Alaskans we serve,” Cockrell said Thursday.

Cockrell appeared visibly shaken as he told reporters that police should have confirmed who the car's occupant was before breaking the window.

Assistant Attorney General John Skidmore told reporters he could not recall such a charge ever being brought against a police officer in the 25 years he has worked for the state, although the state has previously brought excessive force charges against officers in Bethel and Anchorage.

Officials said Thursday that the Alaska Department of Public Safety will not release bodycam footage of the incident until criminal proceedings are completed.

Miller has worked for Alaska DPS for 14 years and Woodruff for 16 years; both most recently worked in Soldotna.

Both officers are currently on leave and the dog handler involved is no longer on duty, officials said Thursday. Cockrell said officials are investigating some previous incidents involving those officers for possible violations.

No attorney was listed for Miller on Friday. NBC News has contacted an attorney for Woodruff. Both men are due in court on Sept. 10.