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“This was quite a night,” Winona County Attorney Chuck MacLean said as he prefaced his arguments in a court appearance for one of the men arrested in the case of a brutal assault with a tire iron and a later intentional hit-and-run.
The incidents were first reported earlier this week in the Daily News.
Michael Charles Braley, of Pierre, S.D., and Raymond Vincent Cruz Jr., of Circle Pines, Minn., made their first appearances in Winona County District Court on Tuesday morning to hear multiple charges.
Braley, 19, was charged with first-degree assault causing great bodily harm for allegedly running down a pedestrian with his truck. He faces a minimum of six years and two months in prison if convicted. Cruz, also 19, was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, specifically a tire iron.
MacLean called Braley a “menace” Tuesday and described his alleged crime as a “vicious act” that left the victim “lying in a pool of his own blood.” MacLean requested bail be set at $500,000 with a lesser conditional bail be set at $250,000.
Braley entered the court with a black eye and his left arm in a sling from a previous motorcycle accident. His attorney, J.P. Plachecki, painted Braley as a “19-year-old kid” still recovering from the death of his father in April. He said Braley’s mom wants to take the Winona State University sophomore back to his hometown of Pierre, and the “astronomical bail” requested by MacLean would not serve justice.
Judge Margaret Shaw Johnson cited the “very serious allegations” and “extremely serious consequences”
facing Braley in setting unconditional bail at $500,000 and conditional bail at $100,000.
MacLean requested much lower bail for Cruz in the amount of $50,000 and $25,000 with conditions. Johnson granted the request after Cruz promised he would make all his court appearances and would be at the very most just two hours away in the Twin Cities.
Cruz and Braley have since both posted bail. Cruz is set to return to court Sept. 4, and Braley on Oct. 15.
According to the criminal complaint, Braley was “riled up” by alcohol and a beating he suffered after a house party early Saturday that caused his left eye to swell shut. Braley said he called Cruz and two other friends to help find the man who punched him and exact revenge.
Police were called to a fight of about eight people in the area of Sarnia and Walnut streets at about 1:43 a.m.
While investigating there, they were approached by a man bleeding from the head, who said he had been hit with a tire iron. He said he was approached by three men who said, “Are you the one who hit my friend?” and attacked him. He needed nine staples to close a laceration, according to court papers.
A friend of Braley’s said he saw Cruz hit a man twice with a tire iron. He said Cruz later wiped blood off of the tool and tossed it in a trash bin. Police later recovered the tire iron and bloodstained wipes and arrested Cruz, who said he may have assaulted the man because his friend was “getting the crap kicked out of him,” the documents show.
A little more than an hour later., police were dispatched to the parking lot of the Kwik Trip at the intersection of Huff and Sarnia streets, where they found a man lying on the ground and bleeding from his head and face. Witnesses reported seeing a red pickup truck going between 20 and 35 mph veer toward the man and hit him. The man flipped into the air, smashed the truck’s windshield and fell to the pavement, witnesses said.
Police later interviewed Braley, who told officers he and a friend were in the truck on their way to pick up the friend with a bloody nose. Braley’s passenger told police that on the way, Braley saw the man who he thought had hit him in the eye and said, “That’s the kid.” The passenger said, “You should’ve hit him,” and Braley turned the truck around and struck the pedestrian, documents show. Braley admitted the crime, but said he didn’t mean to hit the man as hard as he did, according to court papers.
According to the complaint, the victim of the hit-and-run crash told police he “felt as if he was dying” from his injuries. The man lost four teeth and his jaw was broken in three places. He will require facial reconstructive surgery.
It was previously reported that the victim may have been in the original fight, but his father told the Daily News on Tuesday his son was not involved.
Kevin Behr may be reached at (507) 453-3524 or at kbehr@winonadailynews.com.
CommonSense wrote on Aug 28, 2008 7:26 AM: