Hit-and-Run Suspect Asks to Surrender as Emily Bowman Fights for Life

As Athens-Clarke County Police continue to piece together a case to make an arrest in the hit-and-run that left a Woodstock woman in a coma, a local man may be in their crosshairs. 

Emily Bowman, 19, a former Kennesaw State University student, was in Athens last weekend to celebrate the birthday of a friend when she was hit by a pick-up truck that fled and was found abandoned not far from the scene. 

The red Mazda pick-up truck is registered to a Cartersville man, but police have neither released his identity nor the names of any suspects.

But police have found evidence that could suggest the suspect most likely was drunk at the time of the incident, according to the Athens Banner-Herald. Police found a bottle of liquor inside the pick-up truck and empty beer cans in the truck bed, the article says.

Lt. Don Eckert, commander of the traffic unit, told Patch detectives have interviewed about 20 witnesses and will continue to do so in the incident that has left Bowman in critical condition at Athens Regional Medical Center. 

Eckert also said police have reviewed surveillance video of places that captured images of the Mazda pick-up truck before and after Bowman was hit from behind as she walked on the grassy shoulder of Oak Street just after 3 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16.

Eckert said the suspect as well as his parents are refusing to talk to investigators. He noted the suspect has obtained a lawyer, who called the department earlier this week and asked that the suspect be allowed to surrender.

Eckert on Thursday said the department could not go along with the request because arrest warrants have yet to be taken out on the suspect.

When asked when he thought the agency could obtain warrants for an arrest, Eckert noted that "depends" on what information they obtain today during their investigation. 

Something could break in the case that could spur detectives to obtain the warrant today or Monday, he added.

Detectives also have collected evidence at the home of the suspect's mother, who lives in Watkinsville, and his father, who resides in Lawrenceville. 

The Woodstock community is rallying around Bowman, a 2011 graduate of Woodstock High School. Her condition continues to improve, and according to the Banner-Herald, doctors removed parts of Bowman's skull to allow her brain to swell without excess pressure, removed a blood clot and performed a ventriculostomy to remove fluid from her brain. 

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