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Man charged in fatal ATV crash

Nine months after an all-terrain vehicle crash killed a 16-year-old boy here, state police arrested a Parker Township man for involuntary manslaughter.

Investigators allege Steven Ray Rider Jr., 33, on Feb. 27 provided alcohol to the pair of youths riding the ATV at Butternut and Spruce roads in Fairview Township.

Briggs R. Buck of Chicora, who was on the back of the vehicle, died in the wreck. The driver, Elijah S. Myers, then 16, lost control of the ATV, sliding sideways and rolling into the snow. Both teens were thrown off the vehicle.

Police said Myers fled the scene. The teen, who is Rider’s nephew, suffered minor injuries. Both boys were drinking beer and liquor throughout the evening, including at Rider’s home, before the accident between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m., said Trooper Gregory Bogan, the lead investigator.

A blood test six hours after the crash showed Myers’ blood-alcohol level was 0.125 percent, more than six times the legal limit of 0.02 percent for teen drivers.

Because of amount of time that elapsed from the time of the crash to when Myers’ blood was drawn, a toxicologist estimated that Myers’ blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash was between 0.083 percent and 0.143 percent.

Rider on Wednesday turned himself in at the office of District Judge Lewis Stoughton in Chicora, where he was arraigned on misdemeanor charges of involuntary manslaughter and two counts each of child endangerment, reckless endangerment and providing alcohol to minors.

The owner of a construction business, Rider is being held in the Butler County Prison on $250,000 bail. Police, meanwhile, plan to charge Myers, who is now 17, as early as next week, Bogan said.

He could face a top charge of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence. That charge and any others, Bogan noted, would be filed in Butler County juvenile court.

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