Man charged with involuntary manslaughter in death of his cousin

A man suspected of killing his teenage cousin after the two got into a fight was charged Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter after the Kern County District Attorney’s Office filed an amended complaint earlier this week.

Mario Enriquez, 20, was charged on Jan. 31 with battery with serious bodily injury, inflicting injury upon a child and false imprisonment with violence in the death of his cousin Kristian Garcia, 15.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Bradley King approved the DA’s complaint and added the involuntary manslaughter charge, according to Kristin Davis, the public information officer for Kern County Superior Court.

Davis said Enriquez appeared in court Wednesday with his defense attorney, David Torres. Enriquez pleaded not guilty to all charges.

According to a probable cause statement filed in court by the Delano Police Department, Enriquez and Garcia got into a physical fight on Jan. 28 at a home in the 1300 block of Glenwood Street in Delano. Garcia wanted to go home but Enriquez allegedly prevented him from leaving.

After the cousins started pushing each other in the fight, Garcia tripped on a bicycle and hit his head, according to the Delano police report submitted to the courts. It said when Delano police arrived, Garcia was lying on the couch unconscious with dry blood around his mouth.

Garcia died Jan. 30 at Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera. The cause of death was assault, according to the Kern County coroner’s office. According to the police report, those close to Enriquez and Garcia said the two were more like brothers than cousins.

Following Wednesday’s hearing, Enriquez’s pre-preliminary hearing was set for July 17. He is currently being held on $80,000 bail.