Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy who they said was under the influence and speeding when he got into the crash that killed a RHAM high school student in August.
Paige Houston, an Amston teen, was a passenger in that 2000 Toyota Tundra pickup when it hit a tree in the area of Martin Road early on the morning of August 6.
Houston, who would have been a senior at the high school this year, was thrown from the car and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
The driver was arrested today and police said he had been traveling well above the 35-miles-per-hour speed limit, did not stop at the stop sign and lost control of the truck before crashing.
Prior to the crash, the teens had been at an underage party in Marlborough, police said. Two other passengers who had been in the truck fled and police found them back at the site of the party, police said.
The driver has been charged with manslaughter in the first degree, three counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree, interfering with an officer, false statement and operation by a person under 21 while blood alcohol content exceeds .02 percent, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, failure to obey a stop sign and two counts of license restriction violation.
The 17-year-old was held on a $150,000 court-set bond and will appear in Willimantic Juvenile Court.
