CHICORA — The boy killed last year when the all-terrain vehicle he was riding crashed in Fairview Township had a blood-alcohol level more than eight times the legal limit for teen drivers.

The ATV driver, another boy, was at least four times over the limit, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

State police say Steven Ray Rider Jr., 33, of Parker Township provided both boys — both 16 years old at the time — with beer and liquor on Feb. 27, the day of the fatal crash.

District Judge Lewis Stoughton at the end of Rider’s hearing ordered the defendant held for court on several charges, including involuntary manslaughter, in the death of Briggs R. Buck of Chicora.

Trooper Gregory Bogan, the only witness at the hour-long proceeding at Stoughton’s office, testified that his investigation determined Rider not only gave the boys alcohol, but allegedly cocaine too.

Police believe Buck was riding on the back of the ATV when the driver, now 17, lost control of the vehicle about 10:30 p.m. at Butternut and Spruce roads, causing it to slide sideways into snow on the side of the road.

The two-seat ATV rolled over, throwing Buck into a utility pole. He died at the scene.

It would take nine months before police charged Rider. Less than two weeks after that, police charged the ATV driver, who suffered minor injuries in the crash, with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence.

The Butler Eagle is not identifying the teen driver because his charges are pending in Butler County juvenile court.

Statements the 17-year-old gave investigators during interviews following the deadly wreck were key in police charging Rider, Bogan acknowledged.

But Rider’s attorney, Joseph Kecskemethy, unsuccessfully argued that the driver’s statements as detailed by Bogan was hearsay evidence.

However, the trooper and county Assistant District Attorney Russ Karl assured Stoughton that the boy is prepared to testify at Rider’s trial.

Bogan testified that on the morning of Feb. 27, the teen driver, who is Rider’s nephew, and Buck asked the defendant by text message to buy them a “30 pack” of beer.

An hour after that message, Rider 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., a friend drove the two boys to Rider’s home, police said.

“(The boys) drank there for an hour,” Bogan said, each consuming three or four beers and a mixed drink of rum and cola.

The boys left Rider’s home with a case of beer. Both boys drank as many as nine more beers that night before ending back at the teen driver’s home about 8:15 p.m.

An hour later, police believe, they loaded up a back pack with about 10 containers of beer and took off on the ATV.

They rode to a home in Fairview Township where Rider was visiting. There, Bogan testified, they drank several more beers and “fruit punch vodka.”

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

But on the way, the 17-year-old recounted for police, he and Rider both stopped their vehicles at a stop sign at Pine and Butternut roads.

The boys got off the ATV and went to Rider’s truck. The defendant “prepared cocaine” that the teens “snorted off the (pickup’s) center console,” Bogan said, in repeating what the 17-year-old told police.

On cross-examination, the trooper admitted that investigators have no other witness testimony or other evidence — including toxicology reports — to corroborate the boy’s claim.

When the boys got back on their ATV and took off, they were in front of Rider’s truck. They traveled only a short distance before wrecking.

During his testimony, Bogan acknowledged that he did not know what caused the young driver to lose control of the ATV.

Kecskemethy later cited the trooper’s own words in asking Stoughton to dismiss the most serious charge against his client.

“Involuntary manslaughter cannot be sustained given the lack of direct evidence and (Bogan’s) testimony that it was unknown what caused (the accident), ” Kecskemethy said.

At the crash scene, Rider allegedly yelled to the boy, “I was never here.” The teen also told police that Rider told him to leave the scene.

The boy drove home on the ATV, leaving Buck, who was unresponsive, on the side of the road. He went to bed without calling for any help for his friend.

A passing motorist spotted Buck’s body about 11:30 p.m., and called 911. An autopsy subsequently determined he died of severe injuries to his head and body.

It took police several hours to identity the ATV driver. A blood test six hours after the crash showed his blood-alcohol level was 0.125 percent, more than six times the legal limit of 0.02 percent for teen drivers, Bogan testified.

Buck’s blood-alcohol level, tested as part of the autopsy, was 0.172 percent.

The level of the boys’ intoxication, for which Rider was responsible, Karl argued, was to blame for the crash and Buck’s death.

Stoughton ruled that Rider stand trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter and two counts each of child endangerment, reckless endangerment and providing alcohol to minors, all misdemeanors

He remains free on $250,000 bail.