Cody Kryger

A 37-year-old Powell man is facing a pair of felony charges after he allegedly grabbed a child by the neck and pushed them to the ground last month.

Cody L. Kryger was arrested following the May 15 incident and has remained in jail since then, unable to make bail.

Kryger asked for his $10,000 cash bond to be lowered last week, but a Park County prosecutor objected, citing in part his criminal history.

Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah left bail at $10,000.

“I think there’s too much risk from a public safety standpoint to modify the bond in this case,” Darrah said.

Prosecutors have charged Kryger with felony counts of strangulation of a household member and physical child abuse.

Witnesses report concerns

According to a narrative composed by Powell police and included in court records, Kryger became upset on the evening of May 15. Officer Isaac Gutierrez wrote in an affidavit that two witnesses reported hearing “yelling and vulgarities as well [as] screaming.”

When those unnamed witnesses looked outside, they reportedly saw Kryger squeezing the child’s neck “hard” and pushing the child’s head down.

“They further advised that [the child] was screaming for help and was clearly in distress,” Gutierrez wrote.

Kryger later told police that the incident began when he and his 18-year-old girlfriend were locked out of his truck by the elementary school-age child, the affidavit says. When the child didn’t listen to Kryger, he recalled saying, “F— you” to the child before grabbing the back of their neck and taking them to their mother. Kryger said he hadn’t used very much pressure in grabbing the child.

As officers left to speak with the child, “Kryger immediately went back to playing video games,” Gutierrez wrote, “showing an apparent uninterest for our reason of contact.”

The child later reported that the pressure of Kryger’s grip registered felt like a 10 out of 10, as did the pain. Officers noticed redness on the child’s neck, along with a mark from a finger nail and a ligature mark that ran from one side of the jaw to the center of the neck.

The child reportedly told their mother that they thought Kryger “was going to choke me,” the affidavit says; the mother — who is not Kryger’s girlfriend — told police that Kryger also pushed the child down.

In a video recorded by one of the witnesses, the child is heard crying, followed by Kryger yelling and a loud bang consistent with the child being pushed to the ground, Gutierrez wrote.

“Kryger can be loudly heard yelling, ‘If you tell [my girlfriend] any f—ing word, I’m going to pop you in the mouth again,’” Gutierrez said of the recording.

‘A violent criminal history’

At a May 27 hearing, Deputy Park County and Prosecuting Attorney Ericka Smith mentioned that specific comment in opposing a reduction in Kryger’s bond.

The mother of the child asked that Kryger be released from custody so he can complete anger management classes, Smith said, “but having him released at this time, I think, is a danger to the minor child.”

In requesting a reduction, Kryger’s court-appointed defense attorney, Jennifer Kirk, said she thinks her client “understands the seriousness of the allegations, and has indicated that he wants to do what he can to make those things better.”

“But he does have a constitutional right … as a criminal defendant to have bond conditions that are appropriate for his case,” Kirk said. “He also has a right to parent his children, one of whom is not at issue in this case, and has a right to be in that child’s life.”

Additionally, the defense attorney told the court that Kryger’s girlfriend was expected to deliver the couple’s child that day, and Kryger wanted to be a part of the newborn’s early life.

Kirk said an order to stay away from the alleged victim and their residence, along with a location-tracking ankle monitor, would address any safety concerns. She asked for the bond to be made cash or surety, which would allow Kryger to be released by paying a bondsman a fee equal to 10% of his bond, or $1,000.

However, Smith asserted that Kryger has “a violent criminal history.”

“Although it appears on paper to be minimal, with  unlawful contact, domestic battery, sexual battery, the original sexual battery charge was a violent rape of a child under the age of 14,” Smith told the court. She also alleged that “on a regular basis, there is violence within this home.”

Darrah said he honors the presumption of innocence and takes bond modification requests “very seriously.” However, he mentioned the alleged comment about popping the child in the face and “too much of a history with Mr. Kryger” in sticking with the $10,000 cash figure.

Kryger is set to enter pleas to the charges during an arraignment set for today (Thursday) in Park County District Court.