Colorado Springs parolee to face trial for allegedly running over parole officer, Judge cites sufficient evidence

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- An El Paso County judge ruled Monday there is enough evidence to try a Colorado Springs parolee for multiple felony charges tied to allegedly running over a parole officer with his car in September 2023.

Justin Kula is facing charges including leaving the scene of an accident involving death, reckless manslaughter, and vehicular homicide.

On September 28, 2023, Kula is accused of attempting to flee an arrest by three Colorado Department of Corrections parole officers, and then running over officer Christine Guerin Sandoval with his car outside of the Veterans Convenience Store in West Colorado Springs.

In court Monday, El Paso County District Judge Davis Shakes heard testimony from three Colorado Springs Police (CSPD) detectives involved in the case. They outlined in detail what happened on that fateful day.

According to the detectives, Kula had a DOC warrant for absconding from parole supervision. Despite their best efforts to contact him, Kula was nowhere to be found for three weeks before the date of the incident.

It was revealed that Kula was contacted multiple times in previous months for absconding from parole supervision, but was released because DOC regularly “quashes” these warrants in favor of getting someone back in line with their parole requirements instead of being put in jail.

The three parole officers, Christine Guerin Sandoval, Nicholas Segura, and Sunny Campbell were attempting to contact Kula for a welfare check on Sep. 28. They were prompted to do so after his ex-wife contacted them concerned for his safety and well-being.

When the officers arrived in the strip mall where Kula was parked, each of the officers exited unmarked law enforcement vehicles and approached his car. The CSPD detectives claim there is evidence Kula was inside using illegal narcotics moments before their interaction with him.

Guerin Sandoval approached his car from the driver's side, while the Segura and Campbell approached on the passenger side. Kula proceeded to put the car in drive and then reverse it at a high rate of speed, causing damage to the side of one of the unmarked parole vehicles.

The lead detective testified that Guerin Sandoval can be heard on a body-worn camera video telling Kula to not put the car in drive moments before he allegedly attempted to flee the area.

Guerin Sandoval became trapped in the undercarriage of the Lexus when the vehicle drove away at a high rate of speed. Her body became unlodged from the bottom of the car in the middle of West Spruce St. in front of the strip mall parking lot.

Kula was apprehended hours later in a neighborhood in Old Colorado City after an alert was issued alerting the public to Kula being on the run for allegedly being involved in the death of a law enforcement officer, referred to as a “blue alert.”

A person in that neighborhood told police that Kula told them he was trying to “lay low” and acquire another vehicle that was not wanted by law enforcement. When officers contacted him, he asked them if he was being arrested for anything tied to fleeing the scene outside of the Veterans Convenience Store earlier in the day.

After his arrest, he was taken to the Colorado Springs Police headquarters and was questioned by the lead detective. During that interview, the detective testified that Kula didn’t know he was wanted by parole, but they ascertained he had reason to believe he was wanted for not complying with the conditions of his parole.

He told the detective that he “didn’t know they were cops,” referring to the three parole officers who attempted to arrest him on the active warrant. He claimed he thought he was being robbed and wanted to avoid that from happening by leaving the area in his car.

Kula’s defense team cross-examined each of the CSPD detectives on whether the parole officers announced themselves as law enforcement officers on the scene. The lead detective stated there was no evidence in the body-camera videos that any of the parole officers said they were parole officers or members of law enforcement while approaching his car.

After a three-hour hearing, Judge Shakes ruled there was enough evidence to send this case to trial on all of the charges.

Kula will be back in court where he will either plead guilty or not guilty on February 23.

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