‘PROBABLY JUST DRANK TOO MUCH’
Records: Driver accused of killing cop admitted to drinking heavily
The Ellington man accused of killing an off-duty South Windsor police officer in a crash while driving drunk — before attempting to flee the scene — had been in court hours earlier for a hearing in another case in which he was accused of crashing into another motorist and trying to elude police, new court records show.
Spencer Kraus, 24, admitted to troopers shortly after the crash early the morning of June 26 that he had been drinking heavily at a local strip club before he rolled through a stop sign and collided with a motorcycle driven by Officer Benjamin Lovett in Tolland, according to a police affidavit released Tuesday afternoon.
Lovett was rushed to Hartford Hospital where he remained in critical condition until his death more than two weeks later on July 13.
Kraus’ charges were upgraded after Lovett’s death last week to include second-degree manslaughter and he faced a judge in Superior Court in Rockville on Tuesday morning just hours before mourners gathered at a wake for the young officer who had been honored for
“I knew I had hit something and came to a stop; however, I did not look to see what it was that I hit.” — Spencer Kraus in a statement given to troopers after a crash involving an off-duty South Windsor police officer
his contributions to policing.
Lovett will be laid to rest Wednesday morning after 11 a.m. funeral services in the auditorium at South Windsor High School.
The fatal crash occurred just after 1:15 a.m. June 26 at the intersection of Crystal Lake and Hunter roads, where Kraus told troopers he rolled through a stop sign at about 20 mph and into Crystal Lake Road, according to the affidavit.
He collided with a motorcycle operated by Lovett and a woman passenger with such force that it twisted his white Chevy Silverado pickup 90 degrees to the right, pointing him north on Crystal Lake Road instead of straight across the intersection as he’d intended, Kraus detailed in a statement given to troopers that morning.
“I knew I had hit something and came to a stop; however, I did not look to see what it was that I hit,” he said.
Kraus used a nearby driveway to turn his truck around and attempt to proceed home, but it was already blocked by paramedics and fire personnel tending to Lovett and his passenger, who suffered only minor injuries, court records show.
Witnesses pointed troopers to Kraus and his pickup in the line of cars waiting where the road was blocked and troopers watched him attempt to turn the truck around again and drive away, but a Tolland fire official used a truck to block the way, according to the trooper’s account.
Kraus was put in handcuffs and told Trooper Jared Bolduc he “hit somebody” when asked about the damage to his truck, but Kraus claimed he did not know where.
“Can I call my dad?” Kraus asked Bolduc, according to the affidavit. “Not yet,” Bolduc said.
“I just got to tell him that I’m [expletive],” Kraus said.
Kraus further told Bolduc he had been drinking at “The Blue” and “probably just drank too much,” according to the affidavit. He then failed a pair of field sobriety tests.
Two blood-alcohol tests were conducted at Rockville General Hospital in the 90 minutes after the crash but the results were still listed as pending in the affidavit presented in court Tuesday.
Kraus later explained to troopers at the Tolland barracks that he had been in court the previous morning for a hearing in connection with a crash at the end of January in which he hit another car and tried to run away from the scene on foot before he was apprehended by police, according to the affidavit. That case has been referred to adult probation and is statutorily sealed, court records show.
He had taken the day off work and relaxed at home after the hearing until heading to the Electric Blue strip club at about 7:30 p.m., where he drank a “large quantity of alcoholic beverages such as whiskey, beer, tequila and spiked seltzers,” he detailed in a voluntary written statement to troopers.
Kraus was released from police custody at the end of June, following his court hearing, after posting a $100,000 bond, records show. He has been ordered not to operate any motor vehicles or have any contact with the female passenger or Lovett’s family.
The announcement last week that Lovett succumbed to his injuries from the crash prompted an outpouring of praise and support from law enforcement officials and those he worked with to stop drunk drivers.
Last year he received the 2020 Mothers Against Drunk Driving recognition award after recording the most arrests for driving while under the influence in South Windsor, despite being with the department for only three years, officials said. His South Windsor colleagues had nominated him for the award again this year before his death.