Lubbock Man Indicted Following Double Fatal Hit-and-Run

The suspect in a fatal hit-and-run crash that killed two people back on September 16th, 2020, was indicted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2021 for manslaughter.

Twenty-nine-year-old Benjamin Ray Mitchell is accused of causing the deaths of 40-year-old Anthony Childers and 31-year-old Barbara Matthews, both from Hobbs, New Mexico. It's reported by KAMC News that Mitchell was recklessly operating a motor vehicle and failed to control his speed. It's also said he changed lanes in what's described as an unsafe manner.

Childers and Matthews were both on a motorcycle that was headed southbound on Avenue Q when a Buick Lacrosse, which was driven by Mitchell, struck the motorcycle at around 10:15 p.m. Both Childers and Matthews were pronounced dead at the scene, and Mitchell's vehicle was later found abandoned.

In November, Mitchell was also indicted on two different counts of failure to stop and render aid in connection to the aforementioned crash. He's previously been wanted by US Marshals for a parole violation with the original charge of sexual assault of a child.

Mitchell was arrested a little over a week after the crash on September 22nd in St. Clair, Michigan. It's said that he told deputies he went all the way there because it was "far away from Lubbock, Texas."