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UPDATED: Woodbine man dies in crash on Hwy. 6 Saturday
Posted On 12 Sep 2009
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."
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R.I.P Mike love and miss you. You were a great person and a Great Uncle. Corbin’s just not the same with you gone….
You don’t know a **** thing about mike and my selfs private life so you don’t have a right to judge me or anything I said. ONE THING I KNOW WHEN MIKE HACKLE DIED HE DIED LOVING ME, can you said that? I thought not. If you don’t believe this statement eat **** I could care less your not important to me anyways.
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Please let Kathy and Bob know I feel threw sadness since I just lost my son Donnie also which was from Corbin to the same thing and yes all the kids from that area have a hard time because people seem to look down on them.Donnie was born on the same day as their son David and passed last week on Monday from alchol and drugs and to the people that think these kids were not raised right I have 2 wonderful daughters which I raised the same to work hard be honest and treat others as you want to be treated do not talk bad about people because it will come back to you
Please let Kathy and Bob know I feel threw sadness since I just lost my son Donnie also which was from Corbin to the same thing and yes all the kids from that area have a hard time because people seem to look down on them.Donnie was born on the same day as their son David and passed last week on Monday from alchol and drugs and to the people that think these kids were not raised right I have 2 wonderful daughters which I raised the same to work hard be honest and treat others as you want to be treated do not talk bad about people because it will come back to you
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Both of these guys were my friends growing up. While we were all indeed spirited kids, Michael and David would have given you the shirts off of their backs. All of us from Woodbine had pretty rough childhoods, so we had to fight to survive, but none of that matters now…
I honor their memory to their parents who were descent people despite the circumstances life threw at them…RIP BROTHERS, I hope that the hearts of your family can heal quickly…and may they never forget the good times. God Bless!
rip mike.
This response is written for Debrah Hackler concerning her now deceased husband, Mike Hackler, and the statement she published in the News Journal article, September 15, 2009.
It is most sad and disheartening to read such a bashing of a deceased man and particularly since it was created by his wife. What a mean spirited and cruel women to conduct herself in a public forum such as demonstrated by Mrs. Mike Hackler. It caused me to wonder if she cared for the man at all. Also, if she knew that all of this was going on, what was she doing to help him deal with his drugs and alcohol problems; or was she part of the problem too?
Mr. Mike Hackler may have had personal problems which contributed to his condition, but for a so-called wife to degrade her deceased husband with such open disregard only adds to the tradegy of the events that caused his untimely death.
Mike Hackler has two other young minor daughters who love him still and are grieving his passing. They honor him not only with their love, but missing him as a father and person whom they can no longer see or interact with. He did have meaning to their young lives. For them, Mike was someone whom they felt affection, even though they live in Michigan; therefore, his life was important and meaningful.
We ask for continuing prayers for all of the people involved in this situation, and that from it all we find a better peace for those who live on.
I knew Mike when he was younger. His parents raised him to be this way. He had a good heart and loved his brother. Both boys was taught to fight till one of them wasn’t able to get up. I’m glad the girl is ok and nobody else got hurt. maybe all of his kids wil have a chance to not remember the abuse, drugs and alcohol.
WOW!! Way to be nice about the fact that he was using drugs and was drinking. You do know he has a family. Right?? They probably miss him. Ya think?
I’m so sorry for the family of the girl. Thank god she is alright and for the guys family. I’m friends with his daughter.