A Durango man originally charged with attempted murder for hitting a pedestrian with his car after a verbal altercation at the Durango post office in July agreed to a plea agreement Monday to a lesser charge of heat of passion assault in the second degree – a class 6 felony.
Brian Walker Kruse, 41, will be sentenced in late March. He faces a range of possible sentences – from three years in prison, to a stay at the Hilltop House Community Corrections halfway house in Durango, to probation.
Kruse remains in the La Plata County Jail where he has been since the July 25 incident.
According to the arrest affidavit filed at the time, Kruse was driving a 2000 Toyota Corolla west on Eighth Street when he encountered Kenneth O’Neill, 37, slowly crossing the road. Kruse allegedly revved his engine while he waited for O’Neill to cross, and the two men began yelling at each other. Kruse then veered briefly toward O’Neill before turning into the post office parking lot. The encounter was caught on a video surveillance camera.
“And then it escalated in the parking lot of the post office,” said Sean Murray, assistant district attorney for the 6th Judicial District, on Monday. “They were kind of in fighting stances like they were about to throw down.”
Kruse entered the post office. When he returned and sat back in his car, O’Neill approached and punched out the passenger window of Kruse’s Corolla and threatened to kill Kruse.
“That’s when it starts and Kruse hits him with the car,” Murray said. “He was going about 15 mph.”
The police affidavit quotes Kruse telling police he snapped after O’Neill smashed his window. He said he had planned to “tap” O’Neill but that O’Neill had jumped onto his windshield and smashed it.
Police said the video showed a different set of events.
O’Neill can be seen walking north away from the post office into a crosswalk on Eighth Street. As O’Neill enters the crosswalk, Kruse pulls out of the post office parking lot and turns right toward O’Neill. O’Neill jumps back on the curb as the Toyota veers toward him, narrowly missing him and the curb, according to the affidavit.
O’Neill then re-enters the crosswalk, and the Toyota does a U-turn and drives directly toward O’Neill. O’Neill began running but was hit and thrown onto the hood and windshield of the Toyota, shattering the windshield, according to the affidavit.
O’Neill suffered minor abrasions but no serious injuries, Murray said, adding that the reduced heat of passion charge was a result of O’Neill punching out the passenger window before the vehicular assault.
“We felt that if we went to trial and he was convicted and given an enhanced punishment it was going to be too harsh, excessively punitive given the circumstances,” Murray said. “I think with him accepting responsibility it made sense to give him some consideration instead of just trying to send him to prison forever.”
Meanwhile, O’Neill, who at first didn’t want to speak with police after the incident, but then gave a statement, was arrested shortly thereafter in connection with two prior warrants, according to the affidavit. He was also issued a summons for criminal mischief for breaking Kruse’s window and disorderly conduct for the initial dispute with Kruse.
O’Neill is serving three years in prison for one of those prior warrants, which was for assault on a police officer.
gjaros@durangoherald.com
