Anchorage police are looking for the driver accused of slamming into a downtown dumpling restaurant at high speed in April, severely injuring an employee and causing more than $200,000 in damages and losses.
Court records show Robert Thomas Miller, 42, faces nine counts in the April 20 wreck at the Anchorage Pel’meni restaurant, ranging from assault and criminal mischief to drug charges and leaving the scene of an accident. Police said in a statement Tuesday that Miller remains at large, after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Although Anchorage Pel’meni’s storefront remains closed for repairs, the restaurant has been serving customers from a nearby tent from 11:30 a.m. to midnight daily.
Mark Moore, the restaurant’s owner, said by phone Friday that he was “freaked out” when he initially received word of the collision. But since then, employees have seen an outpouring of sidewalk support.
“It's been really amazing, man – the community’s come out,” Moore said. “We get to see people every day; the wind and the rain kind of make us go inside or just shut it down. So we kind of miss having walls, but it's been wonderful, man, on a sunny day.”
According to a charging document against Miller, police arrived at the restaurant – along West 5th Avenue, near the Hotel Captain Cook – at about 3:30 a.m. on April 20. Police found skid marks leading to a blue Dodge Ram truck that was “partially inside the building,” with nobody present claiming to be one of its occupants.
Responding officers found an employee of the restaurant with a bloodshot left eye, who said he heard skidding outside, then “saw headlights coming toward the business.”
“(The employee) said he saw chairs and a table fly through the air as the vehicle struck the building, and he got glass in his eye as a result,” police said in the document.
During a follow-up call this month, the employee told police he had undergone multiple surgeries to remove glass shards and repair his broken eye socket, but may still lose his eye.
Anchorage Pel’meni staff told police that furniture at the store sustained about $4,000 in damage, with closures after the crash costing another $25,000 in revenue. The building’s owner, Diamond Parking, reported spending about $40,000 in cleanup and stabilization costs, with repair costs estimated at $150,000.
The charges said road camera video taken at 3:23 a.m. April 20 showed the Ram running a red light at West 5th and I Street headed west, striking a truck headed north on I and losing control. A dashcam video from a nearby parked vehicle, posted on social media, showed a driver and a passenger running from the Ram after the crash.
Other road cameras around town showed the Ram running red lights along C Street as it headed north before the crash, the charges said, hitting an average speed of 102 mph between Fireweed Lane and 10th Avenue. It then stopped at an East 5th Avenue nightclub, before heading west at speeds nearing 100 mph. Crash data from the truck showed it was traveling 82 mph five seconds before it happened, slowing to 37 mph at impact.
When police called the truck’s registered owner, the document said, he said Miller was handling repairs to the vehicle at a local shop.
Police received a warrant to search the Ram, finding an insurance card for Miller in the glove compartment. The driver’s door pocket yielded two baggies of white and tan powder, the charges said, which later tested positive as cocaine and fentanyl. Drops of blood were also found on the driver’s air bag and door jamb.
Blood from the air bag was a match for Miller according to the charges, which said his DNA was already on file in a state criminal database. His driver’s license photo was also consistent with imagery of the truck driver from a surveillance camera near the nightclub where the Ram stopped.
This year, police have been warning drivers of the dangers involved in high-speed chases and crashes. In March, a police Facebook post mentioned that an officer pulled over a vehicle that had been traveling at 125 mph.
“Going over the speed limit, especially at high speeds, dramatically reduces your ability to react in an emergency,” police said in the post. “At 125 mph, stopping or avoiding a collision becomes nearly impossible, and any accident much deadlier.”
Moore, the restaurant owner, said he tried to keep in touch with the injured employee until he left the Anchorage area. After reading the charges against Miller, Moore said nothing could have prepared him or his business for the events of the early-morning crash.
“A truck driving at 102 all night and then, you know, hitting something and careening into – no, man,” he said. “I'm actually surprised, looking at that document, that (more) people didn't get hurt.”
Work to stabilize the struck storefront has been moving quickly, Moore said, and Anchorage Pel’meni should formally reopen by the first week of July.
“We might not have paint on the walls yet fully, but once we can operate in there, we're going to move right back inside,” he said.
Police ask that anyone who sees Miller or has word of his whereabouts call them at 311. Tips can be submitted anonymously through Anchorage Crime Stoppers at 907-561-7867.
