Two Breckenridge men arrested on Manslaughter charges from separate vehicle accidents
By Tony Pilkington and Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
Earlier this month, Breckenridge police arrested two local men on manslaughter charges in connection with two separate vehicle accidents that happened in April 2020.
According to an arrest report by the Breckenridge Police Department, on Monday, May 17, 2021, officer Noah Gray arrested Ricardo Alberto Perez, 25, on a Stephens County warrant for manslaughter. The next day, Police Chief Bacel Cantrell arrested Mitchell Wayne Stewart, 31, on three Taylor County warrants for intoxicated manslaughter, intoxicated assault and DWI with a child, the report states.
Ricardo Alberto Perez
Ricardo Perez
Perez was arrested after being indicted on May 14 by a Stephens County Grand Jury. He was released the next day after posting $20,000 bond, according Stephens County Sheriff Kevin Roach.
According to a news release issued by Cantrell on Monday, April 27, 2020, a 2016 GMC pickup operated by Perez was traveling east-bound on Walker Street near the Breckenridge City Park when his vehicle left the road and struck Khay Khvan, a 79-year-old Breckenridge man who was walking on the sidewalk around the park.
Earlier this year, Cantrell said officials were waiting for the results of a toxicology report that was submitted to the Department of Public Safety Lab last year before charges would be considered against Perez. Once the results were received from the lab, Cantrell said, they were turned over to Stephens County District Attorney Dee Peavy’s office, which presented them to the grand jury that then returned the indictment for manslaughter against Perez.
Mitchell Stewart
Mitchell Wayne Stewart
Stewart was released on bond the same day Cantrell arrested him, according to Roach. His bond was set at $20,000 for the intoxicated manslaughter charge, $10,000 for the intoxicated assault charge and $5,000 for the DWI with a child charge, Roach said.
Stewart was identified in DPS reports as the driver of a 2008 F-150 pickup that was involved in a one-vehicle accident on Business Interstate 20 west of Abilene on April 11, 2020. The crash killed Raymond Baladez Jr., who was also from Breckenridge. Two other passengers in the pickup were injured and taken to the hospital.
To see other arrests and BPD news, click here to see the Emergency Dispatch Report for May 17-23.
Cutline, top photo: Breckenridge Police Chief Bacel Cantrell and then-Sgt. John Green inspect the hood of the truck involved in a fatal accident on Walker Street in April 2020. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
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