NENANA, Alaska (KTUU) – A Polaris test rider employee plead guilty Monday to charges tied to a 2023 snowmachine crash in Cantwell that struck a sled dog team, killing 3 dogs.
Erik Johnson, 49, of Minnesota was originally charged with reckless driving, a misdemeanor criminal charge. But as part of plea agreement entered Monday, he pleaded guilty to a negligent driving citation, a noncriminal offense.
The sled team belonged to former Iditarod musher Jim Lanier, but at the time of the crash, it was Mike Parker who was mushing for Lanier’s Northern Whites Kennel.
The names of the three dogs who died were John Lennon, Buttercup, and Solo.
In a heartfelt moment on Monday, Parker — who is running this year’s Iditarod — told Alaska’s News Source that he is carrying the ashes of all three dogs with him on the trail.
“So we can leave them and let them rest on this trail where they were always supposed to be,” Parker said.
“This sentence properly serves as a deterrent,” Judge Raechyl Huisingh said during Monday’s hearing. ”Meeting the changing criteria, and that it puts you and others on notice to be cautious when using a trail and to share the trail with others. It also serves as a community condemnation and reaffirms our societal norms, so for all those reasons, I will accept the agreement here today.”
Initial charging documents say Parker told troopers at the time of the crash, he noticed snowmachines on the area trails, which were dark and blowing snow, and he tried to use his headlamp to get the driver’s attention.
Johnson said that he had seen a faint light facing him shortly before the accident, but that he couldn’t make out what it was. According to the trooper, Johnson also said he was traveling at about 40 to 50 mph.
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