Neighbors Tried To Get Laramie Man To Stop Slamming Another’s Head Into Asphalt

Neighbors and bystanders witnessed a Laramie man slamming another, defenseless man’s head onto the street last month while screaming “he raped me,” according to allegations in court documents filed Friday in Albany County District Court. 

Kelland Smith, 28, faces one count of aggravated assault in Albany County District Court. His case rose to that level Friday. 

When Laramie Police Department Officer Hunter Rope arrived on South Spruce Street in Laramie the afternoon of March 7 to find Smith attacking another man in the street, Smith claimed he’d been raped, says the case evidentiary affidavit. 

Rope wrote in the affidavit that he arrived and saw Smith breathing heavily; his hands covered in dried blood; his eyes “fixated on the victim” who lay beaten in the street. 

Smith said he was raped when he was 4 years old, then gestured to the victim and said, “I’m gonna kill him,” the document says. 

Rope and other officers detained Smith and took him into custody, originally on recommended charges of battery and police interference. 

Emergency medical personnel arrived and took the victim to Iverson Memorial Hospital. 

Officer Jackson Crabtree interviewed neighbors who live up the street. They said they went outside because they heard yelling. They watched Smith and the other man jump into a red SUV, do a U-turn and circle back, the document relates. 

Both men ended up outside, and Smith kicked the other man in the face; Smith slammed his knee into the other man’s head, punched him, grabbed him by the back of the head and repeatedly slammed the other man’s head into the asphalt, the affidavit alleges. 

The neighbors told Crabtree they yelled multiple times for Smith to stop, but he wouldn’t. The other man looked like he couldn’t react, the neighbors added. 

‘It’s Over’

Another neighbor heard loud voices, peeked outside and heard someone yelling “f*** you,” and “it’s over,” wrote Rope, relating from another of Crabtree’s interviews. 

This neighbor saw a person kicking and hitting another person on the ground, she added. 

A fourth neighbor attested to that as well, and identified the victim by name, the affidavit says. She said Smith kept punching the victim, who would try to roll over onto his stomach to guard his face; but Smith would roll him back over to beat his body’s front side, the fourth neighbor said. 

The affidavit says a bystander told police she was walking her dog when she noticed Smith screaming “he raped me” while pounding the victim into the ground and “smashing” his head into the ground.

That witness also told police that Smith hit the victim in the face with his elbows, as the victim lay defenseless, says the document. 

Hospital Interview

A different Laramie Police Department officer interviewed the victim at the hospital and learned the man had been driving his vehicle when he encountered Smith, and the latter demanded to go for a drive. 

Smith started striking the man in the face while they were still in the car, the document relates. 

The affidavit says the man suffered bleeding in the space between his brain and the thin membrane covering it; hematomas in his face; fractures in both rib cages; and a pooling of blood and air between his lung and chest wall. 

The man was taken that same day to the Medical Center of the Rockies “regarding the need for neurosurgery,” the document says. 

In the weeks leading up to the attack, Smith posted claims to his Facebook page indicating he’d suffered sexual abuse and that another man “is guilty.” The posts blame some wrongs on an “AI,” and express pain and frustration. 

As of Tuesday afternoon, the beaten man had not been charged in any publicly filed sex crimes in Wyoming. He did not immediately respond to a social media request for comment.

The Laramie Police Department did not return a Monday voicemail request for additional comment by publication time.

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.