Polaris and rider who hit sled dog team on Denali Highway charged with reckless driving

A Polaris snowmachine tester who struck a sled dog team in December on the Denali Highway, killing three dogs, has been charged with a misdemeanor count of reckless driving.

The state filed the charge against both 48-year-old Erik Johnson, a Minnesota resident, and Polaris Inc., according to an informational document filed last week in Nenana District Court. Both Johnson and the company “drove a motor vehicle in a manner which created a substantial and unjustifiable risk of harm to a person or property,” the charges say.

Johnson was testing snowmachines for Polaris in mid-December when he struck the sled dog team, killing three dogs and seriously injuring another, according to reports at the time.

The incident occurred as Mike Parker was driving a team of Chugiak musher Jim Lanier’s dogs toward the team’s truck parked near Cantwell after a 64-mile race to a lodge along the highway.

Johnson later said he was going 40 or 50 mph and couldn’t see the team even though Parker said he was flashing his headlamp, according to a sworn affidavit filed with charges by Trooper Noah Belt. Both parties described limited visibility in darkness and blowing snow, though Parker said he was able to see clearly at his speed.

Parker told troopers he saw a group of snowmachines coming toward him and “began using his 1,000-lumen headlamp to make himself known to the snow machine operators,” Belt wrote. “Parker said he was moving his head rapidly with the light towards the snow machine operators.”

Parker and the dog team were traveling on the far left side of the highway, to the side of a snow trail in the center of the highway, according to the affidavit.

Parker said the first snowmachiner passed without incident, and even flashed his lights at the team as he went by, it said. Then Johnson’s snowmachine slammed into the team.

The snowmachine hit four dogs running at the front of the team of 12, killing one upon impact, according to a statement Parker released in December. Another dog died shortly after and the third died as Parker and another musher were taking it to Wasilla for emergency veterinary care.

Johnson, interviewed by phone, told troopers he was following the other snowmachine when he saw they had stopped on a hill about a quarter mile away on a straightaway, Belt wrote. “Johnson stated that he then saw a faint light facing him, which he could not perceive what it was.”

He hit the dog team soon after, the affidavit said.

A Polaris spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.

Asked why the Alaska Department of Law opted to charge the company as well as the test rider, a spokeswoman on Wednesday emailed a statement from the Fairbanks District Attorney’s office: As a general matter, state statute “contemplates legal accountability for organizations when the conduct in question is carried out by one of the organization’s agents acting within the scope of the agent’s employment on behalf of the organization.”

Polaris has said it tests snowmachines at its facility in Roseau, Minnesota, as well as other areas including Alaska, using employees who are “expert riders” and undergo detailed training for the job.

The 135-mile Denali Highway is not maintained in winter and is popular among snowmachiners and dog teams.

The December incident marked the second time in a month that a snowmachine fatally struck a sled dog team on the road.

In November, two dogs from Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey’s team died and seven were injured when a snowmachine struck them along the highway. A Healy man was cited for negligent driving in the crash, troopers have said. Seavey was not running the team at the time. The musher involved was not seriously injured.