The Latest: Man arrested in crashes says he was drinking

A 26-year-old man accused of crashing his snowmobile into two Iditarod mushers says he was returning home from a night of drinking when he struck Aliy Zirkle and Jeff King's teams early Saturday morning.

Alaska State Troopers say Arnold Demoski of Nulato (noo-LAH-toh) is being held on two counts of assault, reckless endangerment reckless driving and six counts of criminal mischief.

Alaska State Troopers say Arnold Demoski of Nulato (noo-LAH-toh) is being held on two counts of assault, reckless endangerment reckless driving and six counts of criminal mischief.

Iditarod musher Aliy Zirkle says she thought a man on a snowmobile was trying to kill her after the machine struck her sled outside a Yukon River village.

Zirkle reached the village of Nulato at 2:17 a.m. and says in a video posted on the Iditarod Insider webpage that she was shaken up by the incident.

King says no one in his right mind would drive a snowmobile into mushers, and he suspects the crashes were related to substance abuse.

The Iditarod video also shows Alaska State Trooper Robert Nunley arriving in an airplane to investigate the incident in the village of 236 people.

Alaska State Troopers are traveling to the Yukon River village of Nulato (noo-LAH-toh) to investigate a snowmobiler who purposely crashed into two teams competing in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Saturday morning.

Officials in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race say a person on a snowmobile early Saturday morning purposely struck two teams in the race.