State Attorney Releases Interview of Kruse's Wife

BRADENTON – This week, theFlorida Center for Government Accountabilityobtained an additional discovery item from the State Attorney’s Office relating to its investigation into a traffic accident involving Commissioner George Kruse. A recording of a pre-filing interview of the wife of Commissioner Kruse, recorded on May 13, 2022, has been reviewed byTBT.

The two-hour-long interview of Mrs. Kruse was undertaken roughly a month prior to interviews conducted by the SAO of local developer Carlos Beruff and political consultant Anthony Pedicini. AsTBTreported in August, audio obtained by FLCGA ofBeruff and Pedicini's interviews with SAOrevealed that the two were on the state's witness list because the Kruses had attended a meeting at Beruff's home with Pedicini prior to an April 20 traffic accident in which Commissioner Kruse crashed his Ford F-150 into a tree outside of Grayhawk Landing.

On June 22, after having completed its investigation into the April 20 single-vehicle crash, the State Attorney filed a charge of one count of DUI against Commissioner Kruse. Prior to its decision to file charges in the case, the SAO interviewed multiple individuals under oath about their knowledge of the incident, including a waitress, Grayhawk residents, friends of the couple, Beruff, Pedicini, and others.

During her interview, Jessica Kruse told SAO investigators under oath that she and her husband attended "a political meeting at a friend's house" the evening of the accident. Reluctantly, Mrs. Kruse told the state attorney that the "friend" was Carlos Beruff.

The purpose of the meeting was to have a conversation about the upcoming primary election, candidates, and who "we might want to support in the election." Mrs. Kruse said that most of the discussion was between herself, her husband, and Pedicini, and that, despite it being held at his home, Beruff was a lesser participant in the discussions.

"We were really meeting with Anthony, but also a little bit with Carlos," Mrs. Kruse told investigators.

She also stated that the meeting was only being held at Beruff's home because Pedicini and Beruff had another meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. with "other people" to further discuss the upcoming election. Mrs. Kruse told investigators that she and her husband left Mr. Beruff’s home prior to 6 p.m.

In his recorded interview, Pedicini told the state attorney interviewer that the meeting arranged at Beruff’s home was organized by Mrs. Kruse, who wanted Pedicini and George Kruse to meet to "make up" after a disagreement the two had over affordable housing. Unlike the account that Mr. Pedicini provided to the state attorney, Mrs. Kruse made no mention of any squabble between Commissioner Kruse and Pedicini, nor any mention of "affordable housing."

Mrs. Kruse said that she consumed one glass of champagne while at Beruff's home and that her husband drank a glass of wine. After leaving Beruff's house, the couple went to Sixty East to order a pizza to take home to their children for dinner. The couple ordered a bottle of wine, but only drank a glass each while eating appetizers and awaiting the pizza to be ready. According to Mrs. Kruse, the couple was at the restaurant for approximately an hour.

An additional detail provided by the commissioner's wife was that the two had met at an Ellenton Starbucks in separate vehicles in order to drive together to Mr.Beruff’s home. After leaving the restaurant with the pizza and more than a half-full bottle of wine, the couple returned to Starbucks where Mr. Kruse dropped his wife to her vehicle and they both drove home from there in their separate automobiles.

It was on this route, between Starbucks and home, said Mrs. Kruse, that Commissioner Kruse crashed his truck into the tree.

Mrs. Kruse described to investigators having left Starbucks slightly after her husband and then getting caught at a traffic light, which left her a few minutes behind. She said she did not see the accident happen but had come upon it shortly after it occurred and discovered her husband unconscious behind the wheel.

Mrs. Kruse said that there was not a single person around when she arrived at the accident and that she was confused about what had happened to her husband. Mrs. Kruse explained that in her concern for her husband, and seeing no one else around, she attempted to rouse him to move him to her vehicle so she could look him over for injuries.

Another Grayhawk resident who had come upon the scene after the accident was also interviewed by law enforcement, telling them that just as he was approaching the driver's side door of Kruse's truck, a woman pulled up, exited her vehicle, and began running toward it. He called out to the woman, "Do you know this man?" and the woman replied, "Yes, it’s my husband." When he asked if the wife wanted him to call an ambulance, he told investigators that she told him it was unnecessary because one was "already on the way."

Concerning the audio from emergency dispatch, Mrs. Kruse told the state attorney's office that when she heard the voice of a dispatcher speaking through the vehicle's emergency call system she was more focused on her husband's condition and trying to understand what may have happened to him.

"I was thinking, what just happened to my husband, did he have a heart attack, did he fall asleep at the wheel?" Mrs. Kruse explained.

She added that having no prior experience with a vehicle crash, she wanted to get her husband quickly out of the vehicle in case the car might explode. She also stated that the airbag made it difficult to look her husband over and that, when it deployed, it released an awful smell that filled the truck.

When pressed by the state interviewer about why she did not request EMS or an ambulance having just found her husband unconscious, Mrs. Kruse explained that because of her husband's role as a commissioner, and the sort of considerations those in political positions need to make, before deciding whether to have dispatch send EMS, she needed to first assess whether her husband was injured. In hindsight, Mrs. Kruse agreed that an ambulance should have been called.

The commissioner's wife expressed significant frustration with the questioning and how the incident had become public via the media. She stated repeatedly that it was her perspective that she and her husband were being "persecuted." Mrs. Kruse affirmed several times that her husband most certainly was not intoxicated and that he was "totally fine" when she last saw him at the Starbucks prior to the accident.

An additional detail provided by the commissioner's wife was also contradicted by a witness interviewed by the state attorney's office. The detail related to why Mrs. Kruse requested permission from the officer on the scene of the accident to allow her to drive her husband home.

Bodycam captured the moment that Mrs. Kruse made the request, explaining that the couple's daughter had just ridden past the scene with a friend and soccer teammate. In her recorded interview with SAO investigators, Mrs. Kruse again stated that she was concerned about her daughter's mental state having seen the crash on her ride home. She said that she wanted to get Mr. Kruse home to the children as soon as possible to alleviate any additional anxiety her daughter might have had.

Mrs. Kruse stated that after the friend's car drove past the accident, she understood from the teammate's parent that they would be dropping her daughter at home, as intended–an assumption Mrs. Kruse said she was under when she asked the officer for permission to take Mr. Kruse back to the house. She said it was not until after receiving permission to take him home, that her daughter texted to let her know that the teammate's father had offered to take the daughter back to their home instead.

The SAO interviewed the father on May 25. In his interview, the father of the friend told investigators that he was providing Kruse's daughter a ride home from soccer practice when they came upon the accident. The man said that the daughter immediately recognized the vehicle as her father's, and so he stopped his car and rolled down the window to briefly speak to Mrs. Kruse.

He alleged that Mrs. Kruse told them that Mr. Kruse was "okay" and that she was waiting for a tow truck. When asked whether Mr. Kruse was still on the scene when he stopped to speak to Mrs. Kruse, the man stated that Mr. Kruse had already left the scene.

Sympathetic to the situation, the man said that he told Mrs. Kruse not to worry about the kids and that he would take the daughter home to his house to feed her dinner and allow the girls to shower and clean up from soccer practice.

During her interview, Mrs. Kruse also expressed displeasure at how she perceived she was treated by the first responding officer, Lt. Pruitt. She told investigators that Pruitt "accosted her" and yelled while accusing her husband of being intoxicated.

"All I was thinking," said Mrs. Kruse as she described the treatment she said she received from Lt Pruitt, "was how dare you. You are saying things you know nothing about."

Mrs. Kruse said that despite what she was thinking, she stayed quiet because, "damned if you do, damned if you don’t," alleging that the officer would never have listened to her either way.

Roughly halfway through the interview, Mrs. Kruse asked the SAO whether the interview recording would ever be made available to the press.

"Will you be releasing this to the press?" she asked. "Because if so, I am going to just shut up from here on out, because people will be using this against me."

Mrs. Kruse also appeared unaware during the interview that hours of bodycam footage were captured the night of the incident. She pressed the state attorney's office as to how she could get a copy of all of the footage, and why the footage had been released to the press, to begin with.

The interview audio ends with the SAO investigator playing portions of the bodycam video and 911 audio for Mrs. Kruse. She again explained to the investigator that she did not initially have dispatch send help despite finding her husband unconscious because, "in the world of politics, you can trust no one. You need to know what is happening before anything else."

She said that once her husband came to and seemed to be uninjured, she made the assessment that EMS were not needed–but also stated that Lt. Pruitt should not have relied on her assessment since she is not a nurse or doctor.She said that once her husband was home with the kids, while she stayed at the accident site waiting for a tow truck, she regularly texted her children instructing them to check on their father to be sure he was not going to sleep in case he had sustained a concussion.

Mrs. Kruse offered to the state attorney that she had proof that her husband was not intoxicated because he was "totally okay" within 30 mins of the accident. She said she could prove it because the family’s ring camera had captured Mr. Kruse sitting on the porch talking with their son while she awaited the tow truck. "He was perfectly fine," she said.