The wife of a Woodbine man who died in a car wreck on Hwy. 6 Saturday said her husband "made a deadly mistake and is paying the ultimate price of it" follow police suspicions that drugs and alcohol were likely factors in the crash.
According to Kentucky State Police, 36-year-old Michael Hackler, of Hackler Lane in Woodbine, was killed when he crashed his white Ford pick-up truck into a red Dodge pick-up truck driven by Kelli Dixon, 18, of Corbin at about 2:25 p.m. Saturday. He was officially pronounced dead by an assistant Knox County Coroner at the scene at about 3:14 p.m.
Kentucky State Police Trooper Jake Wilson, from KSP Post 10 in Harlan, is investigating the accident and said Hackler was likely under the influence of both alcohol and drugs at the time of the crash. He was traveling east on the roadway. Dixon was coming the opposite way.
"He was over the centerline. He was in the middle of the road there when the other girl was coming and just hit her head-on," Wilson said.
Police found some pain medication in the vehicle during their investigation.
Deborah Hackler, Michael Hacklers wife of four years, said she believes her husband had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana at a "bootlegger’s" house prior to the crash. She also said he had been taking Lorcet 10 pills and did not have a prescription for them.
"I know he is guilty of everything but I have to defend him because he is my husband," Hackler said. "He paid for what he did with his life. I don’t know what else anybody could want."
Dixon suffered only minor, non-life threatening injuries and was transported by Knox EMS to Baptist Regional Medical Center for treatment.
The wreck happened at about the one and half mile marker on KY Hwy. 6 just inside Knox County. Dixon’s truck remained on the roadway after the crash and had major front-end damage. Hackler’s vehicle careened out of control and came to rest in a wood line on the side of the road.
Less than an hour before the accident, Corbin Police received several complaints of a drunk driver, in a white truck, who struck a utility pole near the Root Beer Stand on 18th Street. Wilson confirmed that Hackler was responsible for hitting the pole.
Deborah Hackler said her husband had just purchased a bicycle to give to their daughter McKenzie who turned eight the day he died. The couple had three kids in common, she said.
Barbara Farmer said she was driving on HWY 6 just ahead of Dixon and was nearly hit head-on by Hackler as well.
"We were just going down through there where it was real straight and he was completely on our side of the road," she said. "I was laying on the horn and I just figured he was going to hit us. He came within about two feet of us before he swerved real fast and missed us."
Teresa Wilson, Farmer’s sister, was one of seven passengers in the vehicle. She said Dixon was on her way to a dinner for an uncle.
"She was going the same place we were," she said. "If that man would have hit us it would have wiped out nearly our whole family. I’m just glad she is alright."
Deborah Hackler said that her husband’s death has been particularly hard on the family because his brother, David, died 17-years-ago in a similar auto accident.
Michael Hackler is survived by his wife, children and parents Bobby Wayne and Kathy Hackler.
He was cremated by Vankirk-Grisell Funeral Home of Corbin. Deborah Hackler said the family intends to hold a private memorial service for her husband.
"The last words he said to me were "I love you baby," she said, choking back tears. "Maybe his brother needed him up there worse than we did here."
