Driver charged in hit-and-run crash that killed woman

Cobb County police have arrested and charged a Marietta resident in connection with a fatal crash involving a pedestrian in Mableton.

Howard Hulan Martin is charged with felony hitand-run resulting in serious injury or death and tampering with evidence, an arrest warrant shows.

Cobb police were dispatched to the crash on Floyd Road south of White Boulevard at 11:20 p.m. Aug. 23.

Police say 44-year-old Corie Bethea of Atlanta was crossing Floyd Road and entered the path of a dark-colored Dodge Ram pickup truck. The truck was traveling north on Floyd Road approaching White Boulevard when it struck Bethea.

According to Cobb police, the driver of the Ram, iden- tified as Martin, did not stop. Evidence at the scene of the collision showed the truck suffered “extensive front-end damage, including a broken driver’s side headlight.”

According to the arrest warrant obtained Aug. 29 for Howard, police say Howard drove to a home in Marietta, parked the truck in the backyard and hid the damaged vehicle by covering it with a tarp.

Cobb police spokeswoman Syd ney Melton said the felony hit-and-run charge includes the condition the crash resulted in a fatality. A charge of vehicular homicide was not included because Martin did not cause the collision since Bethea was in the road. Additional charges could be added by the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, she added.

Martin, 36, was booked into the Cobb County Jail on Aug. 29 and released Sunday on a $22,220 bond.

Howard Hulan Martin