Crime & Safety

Details of Hit-and-Run Incident Revealed in Court Documents

Information from the search warrant affidavit contradicts earlier reports.

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Since she was struck by a pickup in the early morning of February 16th, Emily Bowman was said to have been walking with a friend on Oak/Oconee Street.

According to a story in the Athens Banner Herald, the 19-year-old Cherokee County native was standing by herself in front of City Electric, 410 Oak Street. Bowman was waiting for her friend to return from the back of the building, where he had gone to relieve himself, when she was hit by a pickup allegedly driven by William Wilson Heaton.

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The impact threw her to the ground, slamming her head against the concrete curb, the story says. The new information comes from documents filed in Clarke County Superior Court.

Before the incident, Heaton had been drinking in Bar Code downtown, according to the story. Investigators relied on information taken from the bar employees and the bar's surveillance cameras to charge Heaton with DUI.

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Released from Athens Regional after spending three weeks in a coma, Emily Bowman is now at home, recovering, so she can return to the Shepherd Center. She hasn't spoken and cannot lift her head.

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Hit-and-Run Victim Seeks Temporary Home

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