He was arrested at a work site on Upper Valley Pike without incident Friday, Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly said.
According to the warrant, Heard was found to have a blood alcohol content of .177 following the crash.
Tyree King, a Possum Middle School student and basketball and football player, was killed the evening of June 10. He was walking with a friend in a neighbor’s yard along South Yellow Springs Street.
“This young man was right in front of his house, going to play football. It was 80 degrees. It was a beautiful night,” Kelly said.
According to investigators, Heard was headed south in a 1997 Dodge pickup truck when he drove into the grass on the west side of the roadway, hitting Tyree and a fire hydrant.
The Springfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol took the lead in investigating the crash. A sergeant there Friday said he wasn’t sure if it has been determined where Heard was coming from at the time of the crash or exactly what caused him to leave the roadway.
The news of Heard’s arrest was a relief to King’s family.
“That was the hard part, knowing he was out there still,” Tyree’s father, Todd King, said. “It gets harder every day believe it or not, but today it’s a little bit of relief that he’s locked up behind bars.”
The family, which laid the teen to rest last week, said his loss has left a hole in their lives.
“It’s just quiet. He was a jokester; he was a loud one. He messed with everybody. It’s just a quiet scene in our house,” Todd King said.
He said he knows Heard did not intend to kill his son, but still thinks he belongs behind bars.
“He shouldn’t be behind that wheel drinking like that,” he said. “I really don’t have too many words to say to that man, you know. He took my baby away from me.”
During the summer when the sun doesn’t set until late, Kelly said drivers must be aware that there will be kids out in the evening.
“This kid wasn’t walking close to the road,” he said. “He was where he should be.”
The area where King was hit is one where drivers need to be particularly alert, Kelly said.
“There are no sidewalks … It’s a heavy volume traffic area,” adjacent to the busy Sunnyland residential area, he said.
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