Junior at Demopolis High School Dies in Saturday Crash Near Dayton

The Demopolis community is again in mourning after another young student there was killed in a car accident this weekend.

Senior Trooper Gregory Corble, a spokesperson for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency in west Alabama, said the deadly single-vehicle accident happened at about 12:15 a.m. Saturday.

Corble said a 17-year-old driver in a Chevrolet Silverado was driving on Marengo County Road 44 when the truck left the roadway, entered a ditch, and struck a tree.

The young driver was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, Corble said.

The wreck happened about 15 minutes after midnight on Marengo County 44 near where it meets Marengo County 39, about two miles south of Dayton, Alabama.

Although ALEA generally does not release information about juveniles who are injured or killed in automobile accidents, Demopolis High School identified the driver as a junior studying there, Hunter Howell.

School administrators said they will fly the flag at half-staff to honor the young man's life and grief counselors will be available for other students in Demopolis Monday.

The community is still mourning the death of another DHS Junior who was killed earlier in January in a head-on collision that claimed two lives and injured five people.

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