By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA–Shelby County Circuit Court Judge William Bostick has issued an arrest warrant for a Bessemer man facing charges of manslaughter, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and leaving the scene of an accident with injuries after his alleged involvement in a 2016 fatal hit-and-run accident in Helena after the suspect allegedly failed to appear at his June 6 court date.

Damian Lamar Jackson was arrested and charged with manslaughter, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and leaving the scene of an accident with injuries on May 3, 2016. The charges came after 33-year-old Helena resident Holley Myrick was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident on the afternoon of Monday, May 2, 2016.

Jackson allegedly struck her with a Yukon XL SUV and fled the scene of the accident, but was later apprehended after an Alabaster police officer located Jackson and the Yukon in a driveway in Alabaster.

On Aug. 11, 2016, charges of manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident with injuries and unlawful distribution of a controlled substance against Jackson were bound over to a grand jury after a preliminary hearing.

The 29-year-old Jackson, who lists an address in the 400 block of Raimund Avenue in Bessemer, was released from the Shelby County Jail on May 6, after posting bonds totaling $75,000. Jackson had spent a little more than a year in jail on two felony counts.

Jackson was set to appear in Shelby County Circuit Court on June 6 for a status call but failed to appear after due notice, according to court documents.

As a result of Jackson’s alleged failure to appear, Bostick ordered the suspect re-arrested and held in the Shelby County Jail without bond.