Boxer Pleads Not Guilty to Two Deaths in Traffic Crash

A 24-year-old La Puente boxer pleaded not guilty Tuesday to vehicular manslaughter charges in connection with a July accident in Baldwin Park in which two people were killed.

Tony (The Tiger) Baltazar, who has participated in nationally televised lightweight bouts, was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol when his car skidded into another, resulting in the death of his passenger, Daryl Rodgers, 24, of La Puente, and Timothy Duran, a 2-year-old passenger in the other car, authorities said.

At a Pomona Superior Court arraignment, a Jan. 9 hearing was scheduled for a prosecution motion to raise Baltazar’s current $7,500 bail to $250,000. The request has been made because of Baltazar’s previous record with alcohol-related driving incidents in the county, district attorney’s spokesman Al Albergate said.

In 1979, Albergate said, Baltazar pleaded guilty to reckless driving charges and, in 1984, he pleaded no contest to a drunk driving charge. Baltazar was also charged last February with two counts of drunk driving in Valinda, a case that is still pending.