Man sentenced to jail, probation for fleeing scene of pedestrian fatality
A Hot Springs man was formally sentenced Monday to six years’ probation and 120 days in jail for fleeing the scene after fatally injuring a pedestrian last year while driving.
Brandon Neal Harris, 36, who lists an address of 216 Elizabeth Terrace, had pleaded guilty July 24 in Garland County Circuit Court to leaving the scene of an accident involving injury or death, a felony punishable by up to six years in prison.
Harris waived his right to a jury and appeared the next day with his attorney, Gary Martin Lax, before Judge John Homer Wright, who heard testimony from Arkansas State Police troopers and investigators and from Harris, among others. Wright issued his sentence that day, including ordering Harris to pay $420 in court costs, but the actual sentencing was deferred until Monday when Harris was remanded into custody.
According to the affidavit, on July 30, 2016, shortly after 2 a.m., state police Cpl. Michael Reed responded to the scene where a pedestrian, identified as Ronnie Dale Fletcher, 64, was struck by a vehicle on Airport Road near Marion Anderson Road.
An investigation determined a vehicle was eastbound on Airport when it struck Fletcher, who was standing in the eastbound lanes. The driver continued driving east after his vehicle hit Fletcher, but state police determined the vehicle would have sustained damage to its front and left front.
Fletcher was killed on impact and his body came to rest in the turn lane of Airport Road. He was pronounced dead by Garland
County Deputy Coroner Ryan Hamilton.
State Police Special Agent Russ Rhodes investigated the evidence collected at the scene and located a part number on the back of a piece of the suspect vehicle that was found. He determined the vehicle was a 2004 or 2005 Toyota RAV4 and obtained a list of such vehicles in Garland County from the Arkansas Crime Information Center.
Troopers went to each listed address to inspect the vehicles for damages consistent with the wreck.
At 6:40 p.m. on July 30, Reed located Harris’ vehicle, which was on the list, at 409 Ryan Road in Pearcy. He made contact with Harris and he admitted his vehicle was involved in the hit-and-run wreck, and that he was driving.