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Less than 24 hours after he was involved in a crash that killed a UPS driver, Scott Krause told a Grass Valley police detective he stole a delivery van with the intent to kill himself.
Krause also told Sgt. Joe Matteoni in an interview the morning after the Jan. 6, 2004, collision that he was unaware that he had hit anything or had put anyone's life in jeopardy during his drive from the 49er Fun Park to Brunswick Road, where he struck and killed UPS driver Drew Reynolds, 34, whose vehicle collided with Krause's truck and struck a tree.
Krause, 39, was in Nevada County Superior Court on Thursday during the first full day of testimony to determine his sanity.
Krause pleaded guilty last month to charges of second-degree murder. Jurors are now deciding if Krause was fully aware of his actions the night of the crash. If he is found to be insane at the time of the accident, Krause will be ordered to serve an indeterminate amount of time at a mental-health facility. If jurors decide Krause was aware of his actions during the crash, he will be ordered to serve a sentence of 16 years to life in prison.
Matteoni was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the Brunswick Road accident and said that Krause repeatedly told him and Detective Clint Bates that he didn't want to live.
At one point, Matteoni and Bates handcuffed Krause and placed him in leg restraints after he tried to wiggle free.
Matteoni told Deputy Public Defender Gary Gordon that he wasn't able to complete field sobriety or any type of drug tests because of Krause's actions.
"He was repeating that he wanted to die, and he wanted us to shoot him," Matteoni said. At one point, Matteoni said Krause asked him in the ambulance if he was going to go to heaven.
In a subsequent interview the next day at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Matteoni asked Krause if he was aware of the details of the crash.
"This doesn't make sense," Krause told Matteoni during the interview.
"I told him it didn't make sense to me either," Matteoni said.
Under questioning from Gordon, Matteoni recalled that Krause told him he didn't remember any details of the crash, only that he kept hearing gunshots as he drove the truck up the Golden Center Freeway and onto Brunswick Road near the Nevada County Airport.
He told Matteoni that he didn't remember taking the box truck from Sierra Tile and Stone employee Lisa Harrison as she filled up the truck's gas tank across from the 49er Fun Park, but he did remember leaving his Bennett Street apartment after an argument with his girlfriend.
Asked why he took the truck from Harrison, Matteoni said Krause told him "I just need a place to chill."
During the hour-long interview, Matteoni said Krause gave varying reasons for stealing the truck: because he wanted to drive off a bridge, he wanted to fly, he wanted to get to work and he wanted to kill himself.
As Matteoni faced questions for more than an hour from both Nevada County District Attorney Michael Ferguson and Gordon, Krause sat calmly, dressed in a dark shirt and slacks. Members of his family, including his brother-in-law, mother, sister and grandmother, took up the first row of chairs directly behind Krause in Judge Albert P. Dover's courtroom.
As he drove the delivery truck from central Grass Valley through the Glenbrook Basin up toward the Nevada County Airport, Krause drove with little regard for traffic rules, according to witnesses who testified Thursday.
After he commandeered Harrison's truck from a gas station, Harrison walked to the 49er Fun Park across the street and told Michael Power, who was leaving the business with his 11-year-old son, that someone had stolen her vehicle. Power then got in his vehicle and decided to track Krause's movements.
"I followed the vehicle as best I could," said Power, adding that he was communicating with law enforcement via cell phone at the time.
Power followed Krause down Idaho-Maryland Road and onto the northbound Golden Center Freeway. Under questioning from Ferguson, Power said he noticed at least five occasions when the truck, which was empty, nearly tipped over as it reached speeds of up to 70 miles an hour on the freeway.
Linda Burbridge, at one point driving directly behind Krause, said she tried to flash her headlights at Krause but to no avail. She said she attempted to write down the phone number posted on the side of the van to report the driver. She said he was also cutting drivers off as he drove.
"You felt he was driving too fast for the road?" Gordon asked.
"I felt it was anger and rage," Burbridge said.
Moments later, as Krause sat in his crumpled truck after the crash, Burbridge went up to Krause.
"Look what you did," she told him, noting that he answered her with a string of profane words.
"I know that he was wildly angry," she said.
ooo
To contact staff writer David Mirhadi, e-mail davidm@theunion.com or call 477-4229.
Krause also told Sgt. Joe Matteoni in an interview the morning after the Jan. 6, 2004, collision that he was unaware that he had hit anything or had put anyone's life in jeopardy during his drive from the 49er Fun Park to Brunswick Road, where he struck and killed UPS driver Drew Reynolds, 34, whose vehicle collided with Krause's truck and struck a tree.
Krause, 39, was in Nevada County Superior Court on Thursday during the first full day of testimony to determine his sanity.
Krause pleaded guilty last month to charges of second-degree murder. Jurors are now deciding if Krause was fully aware of his actions the night of the crash. If he is found to be insane at the time of the accident, Krause will be ordered to serve an indeterminate amount of time at a mental-health facility. If jurors decide Krause was aware of his actions during the crash, he will be ordered to serve a sentence of 16 years to life in prison.
Matteoni was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the Brunswick Road accident and said that Krause repeatedly told him and Detective Clint Bates that he didn't want to live.
At one point, Matteoni and Bates handcuffed Krause and placed him in leg restraints after he tried to wiggle free.
Matteoni told Deputy Public Defender Gary Gordon that he wasn't able to complete field sobriety or any type of drug tests because of Krause's actions.
"He was repeating that he wanted to die, and he wanted us to shoot him," Matteoni said. At one point, Matteoni said Krause asked him in the ambulance if he was going to go to heaven.
In a subsequent interview the next day at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Matteoni asked Krause if he was aware of the details of the crash.
"This doesn't make sense," Krause told Matteoni during the interview.
"I told him it didn't make sense to me either," Matteoni said.
Under questioning from Gordon, Matteoni recalled that Krause told him he didn't remember any details of the crash, only that he kept hearing gunshots as he drove the truck up the Golden Center Freeway and onto Brunswick Road near the Nevada County Airport.
He told Matteoni that he didn't remember taking the box truck from Sierra Tile and Stone employee Lisa Harrison as she filled up the truck's gas tank across from the 49er Fun Park, but he did remember leaving his Bennett Street apartment after an argument with his girlfriend.
Asked why he took the truck from Harrison, Matteoni said Krause told him "I just need a place to chill."
During the hour-long interview, Matteoni said Krause gave varying reasons for stealing the truck: because he wanted to drive off a bridge, he wanted to fly, he wanted to get to work and he wanted to kill himself.
As Matteoni faced questions for more than an hour from both Nevada County District Attorney Michael Ferguson and Gordon, Krause sat calmly, dressed in a dark shirt and slacks. Members of his family, including his brother-in-law, mother, sister and grandmother, took up the first row of chairs directly behind Krause in Judge Albert P. Dover's courtroom.
As he drove the delivery truck from central Grass Valley through the Glenbrook Basin up toward the Nevada County Airport, Krause drove with little regard for traffic rules, according to witnesses who testified Thursday.
After he commandeered Harrison's truck from a gas station, Harrison walked to the 49er Fun Park across the street and told Michael Power, who was leaving the business with his 11-year-old son, that someone had stolen her vehicle. Power then got in his vehicle and decided to track Krause's movements.
"I followed the vehicle as best I could," said Power, adding that he was communicating with law enforcement via cell phone at the time.
Power followed Krause down Idaho-Maryland Road and onto the northbound Golden Center Freeway. Under questioning from Ferguson, Power said he noticed at least five occasions when the truck, which was empty, nearly tipped over as it reached speeds of up to 70 miles an hour on the freeway.
Linda Burbridge, at one point driving directly behind Krause, said she tried to flash her headlights at Krause but to no avail. She said she attempted to write down the phone number posted on the side of the van to report the driver. She said he was also cutting drivers off as he drove.
"You felt he was driving too fast for the road?" Gordon asked.
"I felt it was anger and rage," Burbridge said.
Moments later, as Krause sat in his crumpled truck after the crash, Burbridge went up to Krause.
"Look what you did," she told him, noting that he answered her with a string of profane words.
"I know that he was wildly angry," she said.
ooo
To contact staff writer David Mirhadi, e-mail davidm@theunion.com or call 477-4229.
