Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — A 24-year-old Steamboat Springs man pleaded guilty Friday to felony menacing for an altercation with an off-duty deputy sheriff.
Mason Adam Miller was arrested on June 18 after a Steamboat Springs couple said he tried to hit them with his white Volvo after they yelled at him to slow down on Lincoln Avenue.
In a statement to police, Routt County deputy Mike McNulty said he and a group of people were crossing Lincoln Avenue at 2:10 a.m. June 18 when Miller drove by and nearly hit McNulty's wife, Jennifer.
McNulty stated he yelled at Miller to slow down. Miller then went around the block to make another run at the group, McNulty reported. McNulty identified himself as a lawman and Miller stopped his car. The two then got into a verbal altercation.
During that altercation, Jennifer McNulty reached into Miller's car and slapped him across the face, according to the statement.
After Miller drove away, deputy McNulty got into Shawn Washburn's car. Washburn witnessed the incident and had offered to help. McNulty used a cell phone to call the police while Washburn followed Miller, said public defender Norm Townsend, who is representing Miller.
Miller was arrested near the Total gas station on Mount Werner Road on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, driving while under the influence of alcohol and operating a defective vehicle, Townsend said.
Those charges were dropped when Miller pleaded guilty to menacing.
Menacing is a class five felony and carries a sentence of six months to six years in prison. Miller also could be fined $100 to $100,000.
Miller hesitated before answering "yes" when Judge Joel Thompson asked him if he admitted using a deadly weapon (his white Volvo) to threaten serious bodily injury to the pedestrians.
Miller has been held at the Routt County Jail since he was arrested in June. Unless he pays a $10,000 bond, he will remain there until his sentencing on Sept. 18.
Calls to Routt County Sheriff's Office officials for comment on the matter were not returned.

To reach Doug Crowl call 871-4206 or e-mail dcrowl@amigo.net