The City of Bethel has agreed to pay a combined settlement of $10 million to two people named in civil suits accusing Bethel police officers of using excessive force.
The settlement stems from what were initially two separate police brutality suits brought against the city.
The largest award, $7 million dollars, goes to Bernard Mael, 45, who claimed in civil court last year that a former Bethel police officer left him with permanent brain damage during a December 2023 incident.
Body cam footage of the incident obtained by KYUK shows former officer Jonathan Murphy tase, pepper spray, and beat Mael in the head as he struggles to shield himself.
After an initial traffic stop that led to a pursuit, Murphy radioed to fellow officers to say that Mael had struck him with a vehicle. The footage shows Murphy grab and punch Mael, but no evidence that a vehicle struck Murphy.
According to Mael’s civil complaint, Murphy’s repeated claim that he was struck by a vehicle was false. Another former officer named in the complaint, Jonathan Bouma, allegedly signed a sworn affidavit in support of Murphy’s version of the events that lead up to the beating.
Mael was charged with felony assault in the incident, but that charge was later dismissed.
All of the alleged events laid out in the civil suit are based on a corresponding criminal case against Murphy, set to go to trial in January 2026 in Bethel court. Murphy has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of assault, providing false information, and tampering with public records. All three carry maximum sentences of one year in jail.
It is not clear whether Murphy will be allowed to stand trial remotely, and he is no longer in Bethel. According to his LinkedIn account, he currently serves as the chief of police in Diamond City, Arkansas. The Diamond City Police Department did not immediately respond to a call seeking more information about Murphy’s employment.
Bouma is not facing criminal charges related to the incident and was working for the North Slope Borough Police Department in Utqiaġvik as of 2024.
Myron Angstman, one of three attorneys who represented Mael in the civil suit, credited the role of police body cam footage in the outcome.
“It's certainly helpful for people involved with police that most police activities are now videotaped by cameras,” Angstman said. “It removes a lot of uncertainty about what actually happened.”
Nicholas Kerr
The smaller, $3 million settlement the city has agreed to pay stems from a suit that also names Murphy, alongside two other former Bethel police officers. The suit claimed that officers used excessive force and unlawfully arrested 40-year-old Nicholas Kerr when responding to a report of suspicious activity in a vehicle parked in Bethel in October 2023.
In body cam footage of the incident obtained by KYUK, Kerr is seen apparently sleeping in the rear seat of the vehicle when officers arrive. After putting on his socks and shoes, Kerr is pulled out of the vehicle and onto the ground by Murphy and officer Lloyd Willis. The footage from a camera worn by a third officer, Sean Neal, does not make clear what provoked the escalation.
While on the ground, the video shows Neal tase Kerr, who becomes frantic. Neal threatens to tase Kerr further as he is pinned and handcuffed on his stomach under Murphy’s weight. Kerr panics and screams out multiple times that he can’t breathe, at which point Neal pepper sprays him in the face.
After Kerr is placed in a police cruiser, Murphy can be heard telling Neal to photograph an alleged weapon found on the floor of the vehicle Kerr was found in.
Unlike the Mael suit, no criminal charges have been brought against Bethel police officers in the Kerr incident.
Past settlements and an open case
The most recent settlement by the City of Bethel related to police misconduct came in 2023, when the city settled a case for $275,000 involving a man who claimed he was unlawfully arrested by Bethel police and forced to stand outside barefoot in subzero temperatures two years earlier.
In 2015, the City of Bethel paid out a settlement of $175,000 in another case of excessive force based on claims that former officer Andrew Reid repeatedly threw a man to the ground in the Alaska Commercial Co. store parking lot. In this case, the incident was captured by the store’s surveillance camera.
Reid later pleaded guilty remotely to misdemeanor charges of fourth-degree assault and official misconduct and was sentenced to serve 120 days in jail. But according to court records, Reid never returned to Bethel to serve his sentence. A warrant issued by the state for his arrest in 2017 remains active.
The next hearing in Murphy’s criminal case is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2026 in Bethel court.
