Head of School Board Arrested in Assault; No Charges Filed

Robert P. Kruse, president of the Lawndale School District Board of Trustees and husband of Mayor Sarann Kruse, was arrested on Jan. 4 for allegedly assaulting a prostitute he picked up in Inglewood, sheriff’s deputies said.

However, deputies decided later that day not to pursue the case because Angela Freeman, a 24-year-old transient who is described in the arrest report as a “known prostitute,” declined to press charges, Sgt. David Nell said.

Freeman could not be reached for comment, and Nell said he did not know why she did not press charges.

Kruse declined to comment, referring all questions to his attorney, David Bowman. In an interview Tuesday, Bowman said Kruse was involved in an altercation in Inglewood but disputed the accuracy of the arrest report. He declined to elaborate.

Sarann Kruse also disputed the arrest report, saying her husband told her the incident began when Freeman jumped into his Volkswagen van, which was stopped at an intersection, and demanded money from Kruse.

She said her husband told her Freeman attacked him when he refused to give her money.

“My husband doesn’t lie,” she said.

According to the arrest report, Kruse, a 59-year-old retired Northrop Corp. manager, was arrested at about 1 a.m. after a Lennox sheriff’s deputy on a routine patrol said he saw Kruse allegedly hit Freeman several times and then force her out of his moving van on Prairie Avenue near 101st Street.

Freeman suffered minor cuts and bruises on her back and arms, but refused medical treatment, the report said.

Kruse was booked at the Lennox sheriff’s station and released later that morning on $2,000 bail, Nell said. Subsequently, deputies decided not to file charges.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said she could not comment directly on Kruse’s arrest. But she said charges can be filed when a law-enforcement officer witnesses a crime, even if the victim is unwilling to press charges.

“If the deputy was a witness to the beating, then we could proceed with a case,” she said. However, Gibbons said it could be difficult to prosecute such a case without a cooperating victim.

Sgt. Joe Steven, of the Lennox sheriff’s station, said he was not familiar with the Kruse arrest but said it would be unrealistic to try to press charges without the cooperation of the victim.

Although the victim could be subpoenaed and forced to testify, he said, “you would just be spinning your wheels.”

According to the arrest report written by Sheriff’s Deputy Duane Decker, Freeman told deputies that Kruse picked her up in front of the Zephyr Motel at 11143 S. Prairie Ave. in Inglewood earlier that evening and asked her for “a date.”

Soon after, Kruse and Freeman were stopped and warned by two deputies in a patrol car about the penalty for prostitution, the report said. The report did not specify why the deputies stopped the van.

Later, Decker spotted the van heading east on 101st Street near Prairie Avenue. He said in the report he saw Kruse assault Freeman.

“I could see the driver (suspect) hitting the victim on the face and head with his fists. The suspect began pushing the victim out the passenger side of his vehicle,” Decker said in the report.

According to the report, Freeman later told deputies that, during the scuffle, she grabbed the van’s rear-view mirror and it came loose in her hand. She told deputies she swung the mirror at Kruse and hit him on the bridge of his nose.

The report said Kruse offered several conflicting explanations for the incident.

“The suspect told us that he picked up the victim and she attacked him for no apparent reason,” according to the report, which also said Kruse later told deputies that Freeman never got into the van.

The arrest report also said: “During booking, the suspect made another conflicting statement, saying, ‘All this because some whore jumped in front of my car.’ ”

Sarann Kruse, who bailed her husband out that morning, said she was surprised and disturbed by the arrest. “It’s totally out of character for him,” she said.

Although Sarann and Robert Kruse still live in the same house in Lawndale, she said they filed for a divorce several months ago.

She said her husband gave her this account:

Kruse was having trouble sleeping, so he decided to take a drive to the beach. He was stopped at an intersection near Prairie Avenue and 101st Street when Freeman jumped into the van and demanded money from Kruse. When he refused and told her to get out of the van, she threatened to “make trouble.”

When Kruse told Freeman he was going to take her to the Sheriff’s Department, she began to swing and kick at him. In the ensuing scuffle, Freeman fell out of the van and onto the street.

Sarann Kruse said she does not know why the arrest report said Kruse and Freeman were stopped and warned by two deputies shortly before the arrest. “That is not accurate,” she said.

Kruse has been on the Lawndale school board for four years and was confirmed for another four-year term in November when no one sought to run against him. He became president of the board in December.

School and city officials said they were shocked to learn of his arrest.

Lawndale City Clerk Neil Roth, a longtime personal friend of Kruse, said he would like to know more facts about the arrest before making a conclusion about what happened.

“I have never known him to be physically violent. . . . I have no idea (what happened),” he said.

Lawndale School District Supt. James L. Waters said he did not know Kruse was arrested until he read about it last week in a local newspaper.

“It doesn’t sound like the Bob Kruse I know,” he said, before declining to comment further.

Board member Diane Bollinger said Kruse called her on Sunday to tell her that a local newspaper had written an article about his arrest. But she said Kruse offered no explanation.

“I’m standing behind him 100%,” she said. “It doesn’t fit (his) image as far as I’m concerned.”