Prosecutor to file homicide charge in ATV child death

WOOSTER, AR - Faulkner County prosecuting attorney Cody Hiland says he will file negligent homicide while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident charges against 27-year old Michael Fowler.

Detectives say Fowler hit and killed 12-year old ATV rider Garrett Martin Wednesday in Wooster.

Well into the night Wednesday when the ATV Martin rode was pulled from a ditch in front of his home.

Fowler of Springfield in Conway County held Thursday in the Faulkner County jail on suspicion of DWI.

Detectives say he struck and killed Martin and then left the scene on Burgess Road just north of Wooster. A passenger in his truck called 911, telling police where to find fowler, detectives say. Arkansas State Police picked him up in Morrilton.

At nearby Wooster Elementary School where Martin just finished 5th grade, Greenbrier superintendent Scott Spainhour says grief counselors are in place for Monday.

"We’ll prepare for those kids that are coming to meet those emotional needs we know they're going to have," Spainhour says. “Garrett was a student that was well liked, a valuable part of our school community. "I'm struck already with how much our staff miss him and feel that void."

The void of a young life lost, a young man who just moments before the accident, family friends tell us, was playing in his front yard.

Fowler’s first court appearance in Conway could come as early as Friday.

A search of arrest records show Fowler has no record in either Faulkner or Conway County.