Sarah Palin's son charged in domestic dispute at parents' Alaska home

By Yereth Rosen ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The elder son of former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has been charged with assault and burglary in a violent confrontation with his father in which the two men struggled over a handgun at his parents' Alaska home, court records showed on Monday. According to a police account in the criminal complaint and supporting documents, Track Palin, 28, broke through a window of the house in Wasilla, Alaska, and scuffled with his father, Todd Palin, on Saturday night in a clash that stemmed from a family dispute over a truck. The altercation left Palin's father bloodied and his mother, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, visibly shaken, police said in an affidavit filed with the charging documents in state court in Palmer, Alaska. Track Palin - now barred by court order from further contact with his parents, younger brother Trig or sister Piper - remained jailed on Monday in lieu of $5,000 bail. He was charged with a felony count of burglary with attempted injury, and a misdemeanor count of fourth-degree assault, according to court records. It was Sarah Palin who called police to the home to report that her elder son was assaulting his father and "freaking out and was on some type of medication," the police affidavit stated. Todd and Sarah Palin were outside of the house and in separate vehicles by the time police arrived. Todd Palin told police the conflict started when his son called to say he was coming to the house to get a truck, and the father objected, prompting the son to threaten that he was en route "anyway to beat his ass," according to the affidavit. The father armed himself with a pistol as he waited for his son to arrive, but ultimately, the affidavit said, "Todd decided he was not going to shoot his son" and was disarmed by the younger Palin as the two struggled. Track Palin told police after his arrest, according to the affidavit, that his father had pointed the gun at him, and that the son goaded his father several times during the course of the standoff to shoot him. Sarah Palin was Republican Senator John McCain's vice presidential running mate in the 2008 presidential election. (The story was refiled to correct the fourth paragraph to make clear prohibition of contact with family members was ordered in connection with latest arrest) (Reporting by Yereth Rosen in Alaska; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and James Dalgleish)