FAIRVIEW TWP — 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.

“There was a lot of evidence to be collected and processed,” said Bogan of why it took as long as it did to make an arrest in the case. “We had to wait for the crash reconstruction report and the toxicology report.”

Another possible obstacle was that Rider declined to speak to police during their investigation. Instead, he invoked his right to remain silent and requested an attorney.

His attorney, Joseph Kecskemethy, did not immediately return a telephone call this morning.

Myers has “cooperated” in the investigation, Bogan said. The boy’s attorney, Jack Haller, also could not be reached for comment.

In part due to Myers’ cooperation, police have pieced together a timeline of the events that led to the fatal ATV crash.

Investigators believe that on the morning of Feb. 27, Myers and Buck asked Rider via text message to buy them a “30 pack” of beer.

An hour after that message, Rider apparently replied with his own text — a picture of three cases of beer — that was sent to Buck’s cell phone.

Between 5 and 6 p.m., the two boys and a girl drove to Rider’s home in her car, police said.

While at the defendant’s house for an hour or so, the boys each drank three or four beers and a mixed drink of rum and cola.

Additionally, according to a police affidavit, Rider offered the boys cocaine, which they declined.

Before Myers and Buck left Rider’s house, Myers retrieved a case of beer, for which he paid the defendant.

Both boys drank as many as nine more beers that night before ending back at Myers’ home about 8:15 p.m.

An hour later, documents said, they left on a Polaris Sportsman ATV. On board, they placed a back pack filled with about 10 containers of beer.

They rode to a home in Fairview Township where Rider was visiting. There, police said, they drank several more beers and shots of vodka.

After an hour, between 10 and 10:25 p.m., the boys got back on the ATV and followed Rider, who also left in his pickup truck. The trio was headed back to Rider’s house.

During the ride, the two vehicles changed positions, with the ATV in front of the defendant’s pickup on Butternut Road.

As Myers approached Spruce Road, police said, the ATV slid off the road, throwing Buck into a utility pole and causing his fatal injuries.

Rider traveled upon the wreck. When he learned that Myers was not seriously hurt, the police affidavit said, he told his nephew, “I was never here,” and drove away.

Myers tried unsuccessfully to get Buck, who was unresponsive, onto the back of the ATV. He eventually left his friend on the side of the road before riding off for home, police said. Upon returning to his house, he went to bed.

A passing motorist, meanwhile happened to spot Buck’s body on the berm of the road about 11:30 p.m., and called 911.

Authorities subsequently pronounced him dead at the scene. An autopsy determined he died of severe injuries to the head and body.

Eventually, police went to Myers’ home about 3 a.m. Feb. 18. They found the boy sleeping in his bedroom.

When they got Myers up, police noticed blood on the cargo shorts he was wearing. He also appeared to be intoxicated, documents said. Investigators interviewed the boy with his mother present. He initially denied knowing why police were there, documents said. He also claimed he had only “a couple” of beers that night.

After Myers admitted to the wreck, police asked him why he left Buck at the scene. “I thought he would be fine,” the boy replied, according to the affidavit.

Police advised Myers that they knew there was another vehicle there. The boy, however, denied knowing who was in that vehicle.

At 4:30 a.m. he was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital for a blood test.