A man who was allegedly stabbed in a fight last September behind a Hailey bar is now a suspect in the severe beating of another man at the same bar early Sunday morning.
Hailey Police Chief Brian McNary named Rodrigo Herrara, 29, of Hailey, as the primary suspect in the beating of a Chubbuck man. The incident left the victim with facial cuts and bruises and a broken leg.
Federico Neri, 29, was transported by a Wood River Fire and Rescue ambulance to St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center shortly after 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning. Photographs of Neri show him wearing a cast on his lower left leg and displaying facial lacerations.
According to a Hailey police report, Neri was beaten by in a bathroom at The Mint Nightclub and Billiards Hall on Main Street in Hailey shortly after midnight Sunday morning. The report alleges that Neri was punched in the face after he questioned his assailant regarding a fight a few months earlier involving the man who punched him and Neri's younger brother.
The report alleges that Neri was knocked to the floor and only managed to escape the beating by crawling through the bathroom door.
The incident was still under investigation Tuesday, and no arrests had been made. McNary said Neri's alleged assailant will likely face felony charges of aggravated battery.
Herrara and his brother, Pier Herrara, 24, of Hailey, were allegedly stabbed in a fight behind The Mint bar around 2 a.m. on Sept. 30, 2006.
Twenty-nine-year-old Ricardo McQueen, a Bahamian citizen who now lives in Florida, is accused of stabbing the Herrara brothers and faces two counts of felony aggravated battery. A jury trial for McQueen has been scheduled for April 10 in Blaine County 5th District Court.
