PCSO to recommend homicide charge for driver in April crash

A 25-year-old Maricopa driver involved in an April 22 car crash that resulted in one fatality could face charges of criminal speed, endangerment and vehicular homicide, according to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.

Law enforcement officials suspect Baldomero Benjamin Blair was driving a red 2004 Ford Explorer before midnight at an excessive rate of speed down a dirt portion of Barrel Road in the Hidden Valley area. The car hit a slight embankment, causing the vehicle to launch into a metal horse fencing that went through the windshield and fatally wounded the backseat passenger, Laci N. Reddington, 21, of Maricopa. 

Initial reports from the sheriff’s office had Blair’s first and last name switched. 

A department press release in April stated that Blair drove through three residential yards, coming to rest in the front yard of a house near the intersection at Barrel Road and Deer Trail. A Pinal County Deputy Attorney was among the responders to the scene. 

Sheriff’s office spokeswoman Tamra Ingersoll said the crash is still under investigation and could conclude in about two weeks. 

Pinal County Attorney’s Office spokesman Jim Knupp said in an email that County Attorney Lando Voyles has requested the sheriff’s office to turn the investigation over to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office because the case involves a conflict of interest with the driver. 

“The nature of the conflict involved several members of the staff knowing the Blair family,” Knupp said.