PUTNAM COUNTY, W.Va. — Police in Putnam County have made an arrest in connection to a hit-and-run which severly injured a man in May.
According to Putnam County Sheriff Bobby Eggleton, William Shrader, 54, of Scott Depot is being charged with failure to render aid, leaving the scene of an accident and driving on a suspended license.
Deputies have not identified the man who they said was found in a ditch along Joyce Road near Nottingham mobile park after being hit last month. He endured multiple bone breaks including a skull fracture, nasal bone fracture, scapula fracture and a broken neck.
Investigators said the man had left a friend’s house and was heading to a nearby convenience store before being struck by the vehicle.
According to a criminal complaint made in Putnam County Magistrate Court, Shrader claimed he was having brake problems with his truck and did not see the man before it was too late.
His vehicle was found the following day after the incident in the 100 block of Will Scarlett Court. The truck was wrecked and abandoned about 400 feet from where the man was hit by Shrader.
The complaint said Shrader ran home past the man after wrecking his truck. Shrader told investigators he didn’t know what he hit at the time.
Shrader also said he had smoked methamphetamine earlier that day before the incident, but said he did not feel he was intoxicated. There were no signs that Shrader was under the influence at the time of the crash, according to the criminal complaint.