Brian Kruse will serve three years in residence in Durango
A Durango man who hit a pedestrian with his car after an altercation between the two in July was sentenced Friday to serve three years at Hilltop House Community Corrections, a halfway house in Durango.
Brian Walker Kruse, 41, was charged with assault by passion, a Class 6 felony. He pleaded guilty to the charge in February as part of a plea deal that dismissed the original charge of ‘assassination attempt.
Kruse has been in the La Plata County Jail since the July 25 incident, which occurred on West Eighth Street in front of the Durango Post Office. The man who hit the car, Kenneth O’Neill, 37, is in jail for assaulting a police officer.
Sixth Judicial District Judge Suzanne Carlson rejected the public defender’s request that Kruse be sentenced only to probation. He noted that although O’Neill “reacted like a cat” by landing relatively unscathed after landing on top and then rolling over the hood of Kruse’s car, he could have landed on his head. It also cited Kruse’s criminal history of violence toward others and failure to comply with previous probation requirements.
“Reacting in the moment has been a lifelong pattern,” Carlson said. “Reacting badly.”
But Carlson also noted that Kruse has made significant strides toward recovery while in prison, which included attending anger management, and concluded that a prison sentence would be too much. He also heard testimony from Kruse’s mother and a neighbor who talked about how well Kruse had been doing before the incident to excel at his job, pay his rent and bills and be a good neighbor
“He knows what he’s done is wrong and I think he’s been in the woods long enough,” said neighbor William Shultz, who has been paying Kruse’s rent while in prison so he has a home to return to. “He deserves a fair shake, a chance. He’s a lover and he’ll get back to work.”
The incident that led to Kruse’s arrest and incarceration began when Kruse encountered O’Neill walking slowly along the crosswalk adjacent to the post office. Kruse revved his engine and yelled out the window for O’Neill to hurry. Kruse testified before his sentencing Friday that he believed O’Neill was high on meth at the time.
Kruse swerved toward O’Neill after passing. The video shows O’Neill picking up a rock and throwing it at Kruse’s car, then chasing and confronting Kruse in the post office parking lot. The men confronted each other before Kruse entered the post office. When he returned to his car, O’Neill approached again and smashed the passenger window of Kruse’s car before returning to the street.
Kruse drove behind him, making a U-turn on the street to hit O’Neill.
Kruse testified before sentencing that he knew what he did was wrong and choked up with emotion as he said he thought about it every night while in prison.
“I acted out of fear,” he said. “I have learned from this and I want to return to the experience I had of living a good life. I am done. My past is a disaster. … I have changed. I apologize to Mr. O’Neill and I hope he will forgive me. I wish I had done things differently.”
gjaros@durangoherald.com
