A preliminary hearing is scheduled Monday for a 20-year-old Colorado man charged with second-degree murder for allegedly running down a California Highway Patrol officer while drunk.

Christopher Merrick, held on a $2 million bail, was charged in the Oct. 28 death of CHP Officer Sean Nava. He faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted.

Nava, a 12-year officer from the North County, was outside his car, investigating an accident involving an overturned truck on northbound Interstate 5 in Carlsbad, Calif., when he was struck by Merrick's Toyota 4Runner about 6:10 a.m., authorities said.

Merrick, who had been tailgating a female motorist in the No. 1 lane, ran into the center divider near the Tamarack Avenue offramp while driving on the shoulder, deputy district attorney Paul Myers said at an earlier hearing.

Merrick, who fled the scene after the accident, was going 75 to 80 mph when the SUV struck the 33-year-old officer, a father of two, Myers said.

Two hours after the fatal accident, Merrick's blood-alcohol level was measured at .08 percent, the legal threshold for drunken driving, Myers said.

After striking the officer, Merrick got off the freeway at the next exit and parked in a neighborhood, where he began arguing with his 22-year-old passenger, James Smith, he said.

"A citizen who overheard this argument called 911 immediately when he saw the condition of Mr. Merrick's pickup truck," Myers said at the defendant's arraignment late last year.

Carlsbad police arrested the two shortly afterward.