In 2014, Russell Bartlett and about 10,000 other people attended the Arctic Man festival in a remote part of Alaska. Arctic Man, Alaska’s apparent answer to Nevada’s Burning Man, involves extreme winter sports, community bonfires, and a lot of drinking. Bartlett, who by some reports had participated in his fair share of drinking, encountered two police officers on the final night of the event. At around 1:30 a.m., Sergeant Luis Nieves approached a group of partygoers standing outside an RV. Sergeant Nieves asked the partygoers to relocate their beer keg inside the RV because some minors had helped themselves to the beer. During this conversation, Bartlett began loudly yelling at the group to stop talking to police. According to Sergeant Nieves, when he approached Bartlett to speak with him, Bartlett yelled at Nieves to leave. Not looking to escalate the situation, Sergeant Nieves left the area. Bartlett claimed he never yelled at the officer and that Sergeant Nieves became upset when Bartlett refused to speak with him.