A man sideswiped by an alleged drunk driver near 1 Mile Haines Highway last week said he thought he was going to be “squashed” in his car when he saw a giant red pick-up truck barreling toward him in his own lane.

Ian Merklin, 39, said the truck, traveling at about 40-50 mph, would have hit him head-on had he not swerved. “I kind of thought for a second it would move out of the way. It didn’t. It didn’t brake at all,” Merklin said in an interview Wednesday.

Merklin was not injured. The accident occurred around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19.

After hitting Merklin, the 49-year-old pick-up driver led Haines Borough police on a four-mile-long chase up the Haines Highway, maxing out at 80 mph, according to court documents.

The man, who gave a highway mailing address in court, is charged with felony failure to stop at the direction of a police officer and several misdemeanors, including driving under the influence, reckless driving, driving without a valid operator’s license, and failing to give immediate notice of an accident.  

He blew a .243 on the Breathalyzer at the station, according to the police report.

Before the accident and arrest, someone reported the man driving recklessly at a Front Street bar. According to court documents, the complainant reported the man drove his truck onto the sidewalk and spilled empty beer cans out of the vehicle when he opened the door.

Police caught up to the man at a different downtown bar and identified the reported truck outside. When confronted, the man admitted the truck was his, but denied driving up onto the curb. The officers warned him about the dangers of drunk driving and told him to hire a cab or call a friend if he was too intoxicated to drive.

Less than an hour later, Merklin called 911 after the truck sideswiped him near the intersection of Haines Highway and Sawmill Road. “I had to get into the other lane (the lane of oncoming traffic) at the last minute to avoid him,” Merklin said.

The engine died, and Merklin coasted to the edge of the road. “I looked behind me and the truck kind of slowed down, and then kept going around the bend,” he said.

Two minutes after calling 911, Merklin saw police zoom up the highway.

According to an affidavit written by officer Ken VanSpronsen, the man did not respond to his vehicles’s flashing lights and blaring sirens. The truck accelerated, reaching speeds of between 75-80 mph, and “crossed the centerline on every curve and drove in the oncoming lane of traffic for almost a mile, through blind curves and hills,” VanSpronsen wrote.

The man also nearly collided with a large tanker semi-truck, which he attempted to pass in a no-passing zone on a blind curve. “At some point he determined he was not going to be able to clear the side of the semi and stay on the road and (he) slammed on his brakes and pulled off to the right-hand shoulder,” the affidavit said.

Meanwhile, another officer had come to check if Merklin was okay. Merklin said he was especially disappointed to learn that officers had specifically warned the man not to drive drunk less than an hour prior.

 “I’m glad they were able to go find him so quickly. That was pretty impressive how fast they snagged him,” Merklin said.

Though he was grateful to walk away in one piece, Merklin said he was also upset because he was about to sell his car. Now it’s not worth fixing or selling, he said. The driver also didn’t have insurance, and Merklin’s policy is minimal.