A Durango man suspected of beating another man earlier this month on the Animas River Trail was charged Thursday with felony assault.

Antonio Nez, 31, was arrested April 8 on suspicion of punching Davidson Curley Chee, 38, and laying him out on the hard-surface trail in the 800 block of Camino del Rio.

Chee was airlifted to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction in critical condition with an epidural hematoma and skull fracture, according to an arrest warrant.

He was listed in good condition Thursday, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Nez was standing nearby when a police officer arrived and asked Nez what he saw. Nez, who had blood on his right hand, told the officer, “I did it.”

On the way to the hospital, Nez said multiple times that he “beat the (expletive) out of that (expletive),” according to the arrest affidavit.

“It was his fault, he shouldn’t have called me a Navajo,” he said at the hospital.

The assault occurred about 9 a.m. Nez had a blood-alcohol level of 0.355, more than four times the legal driving limit of 0.08.

Both Nez and Chee reside at local shelters and motels, police said.

shane@durangoherald.com