Manslaughter Charges for Alleged Drunken Driver in Cowpen Accident

On Tuesday, police formally arrested and charged forty-eight-year-old Ernesto Cadle for manslaughter by negligence and causing the death by careless conduct of sixty-two-year-old Benedicto Mendez. The Belizean taxi driver of Cowpen Village was also slapped with charges of Driving an Unlicensed Motor Vehicle, Driving a Motor Vehicle with Alcohol Concentration above the Prescribed Limit and Driving without Due Care and Attention. The accident occurred just after seven p.m. on Monday night between miles thirty-six and thirty-seven on the Southern Highway. While Cadle drove his Isuzu Rodeo from Cowpen junction to Independence Village, he hit Mendez, who was traveling on a Skygo motorcycle. The elderly man sustained severe head and body injuries when the impact from behind thrust him on to the pavement; he died on the spot.