A Ketchum man faces two felony charges of aggravated battery for allegedly stabbing two men during a fight early Saturday morning behind The Mint Nightclub & Billiards Hall on Main Street in Hailey.
Richardo O. McQueen, 29, who court records list as a Bahamian citizen, was arrested around 3 a.m. later that morning in Ketchum. He is accused of stabbing brothers Rodrigo Herrara, 29, of Hailey, and Pier Herrara, 24, of Bellevue, around 2 a.m. Saturday during a fight involving some 25 to 30 people.
"That was quite a big melee behind there," said Hailey Police Chief Brian McNary. "I'm not sure what started it."
The two stabbing victims were transported to St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center. According to a Hailey police probable cause affidavit, the Herrara brothers were both stabbed in the chest.
"They both were in serious condition," McNary said. "I think one of them was in surgery for quite a while."
McQueen was arraigned Monday afternoon in Blaine County Magistrate Court. He was released from the Blaine County Jail later that day after posting $75,000 bond. He is represented by Ketchum attorney Robert Fallowfield. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 11.
Police officers were dispatched to the bar around 2:20 a.m. Upon arrival, they found the wounded Herrara brothers and were told that the person who stabbed them, allegedly "a black man who was in the bar all night," had fled.
McQueen was arrested by Ketchum Police Department Patrolman Eric Gonzalez based on a description given by witnesses to the fight, the Hailey police affidavit says.
The affidavit further says that McQueen told Gonzalez that "he had been in a fight at The Mint and that he was jumped by eight men and he ran away."
In addition to Ketchum police, the Blaine County Sheriff's Office and Idaho State Police assisted Hailey officers.
McNary said the incident is still under investigation as his office tries to identify and question a large number of witnesses to the fight. He declined to authorize release of a booking photo of McQueen, saying that witnesses are being asked to make photo identifications.
According to court records, McQueen is employed at Soundwave in Ketchum.
