A 22-year-old San Antonio resident, Kendall Lauren Batchelor, was arrested on a warrant for an intoxicated manslaughter charge following an accident last week that left a Boerne man dead.
Batchelor was booked into the Bexar County Jail Monday. The arrest warrant, which was signed by Kendall County Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Debby Hudson on Tuesday, indicates county officials are recommending she be held without bond. The Bexar County Magistrate records indicate Batchelor was booked into the jail at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and was expected to be released Thursday afternoon on a $120,000 bail.
Intoxicated manslaughter is a second-degree felony with a punishment range between 2 and 20 years, but Batchelor’s charge has yet to go before a grand jury as of Friday’s press deadline.
According to information from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Batchelor drove her 2021 Ford F-150 into oncoming traffic in the eastbound lane of Highway 46 at about 9:50 p.m. last Thursday. The information stated Batchelor struck 48-year-old David John Belter’s 2002 Honda Accord, which was traveling east out of Boerne, hitting him head-on near the intersection of Rust Lane and Highway 46. DPS officials stated Belter was pronounced dead at the scene.
A search warrant was signed by 451st District Court Judge Kirsten Cohoon to get a blood draw from Batchelor after a Kendall County EMS technician noted the smell of alcohol on Batchelor’s breath at the scene of the accident and DPS Trooper Allen Meyer noted multiple cans of beer were scattered around the crash site, according to the arrest warrant.
DPS Trooper Robert LaFerney served the warrant for the blood draw, and the results were delivered to the Kendall County District Attorney’s office on Monday morning. According to the warrant, Batchelor’s bloodwork showed her blood-alcohol level was .166 – more than double the legal driving limit – and a urine analysis showed Batchelor tested positive for cannabinoids, opiates and amphetamines. The arrest warrant states a bottle of methamphetamine salts – a substitute for Adderall – prescribed to Batchelor was found in her truck.
The arrest warrant issued for Batchelor identifies four witnesses of the crash. From the statements, investigators were told Batchelor moved into the eastbound lane heading west to pass another driver in a no passing zone. However, the witness said Batchelor remained in the oncoming traffic lane for about a quarter mile after passing him, which the witness claimed was unwarranted.
Two individuals riding together behind Belter’s vehicle noted Batchelor’s truck came over a hill on the state highway in the wrong lane with its high beams on, and her truck ended up crashing head-on with Belter’s just after coming over the hill. Belter’s car reportedly sustained major front-end damage with the dash and roof torn off completely.
“(The witness) stated he observed the truck collide head-on with a small tan car in the eastbound lane,” the arrest warrant states. “He stated that the tan car had no chance to avoid the impact because of the blind turn in the roadway, and the driver of the tan car could not have seen the truck approaching him on the wrong side of the road.”
According to the witnesses, Batchelor’s F-150 “flew into the air” and rolled multiple times after impact and narrowly missed their vehicle, causing the driver to swerve into a ditch to avoid being hit.
After the incident, Batchelor was transported to University Hospital – where the blood draw warrant was served – for what Meyer observed as “minor lacerations about her arms and legs.”
This is the second crash and second incident where Batchelor has been charged with driving while intoxicated in Kendall County. Records show that in 2018, Batchelor was arrested by the Boerne Police Department for driving while intoxicated, and she was convicted of the Class A misdemeanor in the 451st District Court in July 2019.
As recently as Dec. 23 of last year, Batchelor was charged with striking two parked vehicles with her vehicle on Oak Park Drive at 3:15 a.m. According to the crash report from the incident, Batchelor was traveling at a “high rate of speed” when her vehicle struck a vehicle parked in front of a residence, pushing that vehicle into the vehicle parked in front of it. The impact turned one of the vehicles sideways and left the other pushed onto the sidewalk.
The crash report indicates Batchelor fled the scene before reporting to the Boerne Methodist emergency room, but no explanation of when this happened was provided. Batchelor was arrested and booked into the Kendall County Jail March 11 on two Class B misdemeanor charges of failure to perform duty on striking an unattended vehicle.
Batchelor was booked into the jail at 7:03 a.m. March 11 and released by 2:46 p.m. the same day on a $3,000 bail.
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