Texas man held to answer on involuntary manslaughter of friend in downtown Santa Cruz

SANTA CRUZ — A judge ruled Friday that sufficient evidence exists to proceed to trial in the case of a Texas tourist charged with killing his best friend during a drunken downtown brawl.

Nikolay Groushevskiy, 38, faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter after emergency responders were unable to revive 37-year-old Dallas Ferguson after they found him sprawled on the sidewalk on the night of Nov. 17, 2023, near Front Street and Soquel Avenue.

Prior to making his ruling at the end of the one-day hearing...