Appeals court reinstates charges against man in fatal 2019 Coon Rapids crash

By KSTP

The Minnesota Court of Appeals has reinstated charges against a man involved in a 2019 crash that killed a 2-year-old.

Pedro Ricardo Flores, 56, of Blaine, was charged in 2020 with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide, four counts of criminal vehicular operation and DWI after he was involved in a crash on Nov. 30, 2019. The crash injured a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, with the 2-year-old later dying from the injuries.

Law enforcement reported smelling alcohol on Flores’ breath and a blood draw later showed he had an alcohol concentration of 0.038 and THC in his system. In addition to that, road conditions were noted to be snowy, slushy and slippery, with several witnesses telling police they were going below the speed limit but Flores seemed to be going the speed limit of 55 mph.

At one point, Flores said his truck started to fishtail and then spun out, crossed the median and hit a Toyota Camry head-on. Two other vehicles were also impacted.

Prosecutors argued that Flores’ negligence led to the crash.

However, in November 2021, a district court judge dismissed the criminal vehicular homicide and operation charges against Flores, saying the prosecution lacked probable cause. Flores, meanwhile, also argued that his DWI should have been dismissed.

Tuesday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled the state presented enough evidence for a jury to consider and the district court shouldn’t have dismissed the charges against Flores.

In its ruling, the appeals court noted, at this stage, the state only needs to show “probability or substantial chance of criminal activity,” not prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, as that is the question for a jury.

With the charges reinstated, a review hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 22.