Jose N. Gonzalez Ayala

A dispute over an off-road vehicle escalated into an attempted murder last week, prosecutors say.

Charging documents allege Jose N. Gonzalez Ayala of Clark tried running over a Ralston businessman on Thursday morning. Gonzalez is alleged to have crashed his vehicle into the man — apparently breaking the man’s right arm and dealing thousands of dollars worth of property damage; the man’s wife, meanwhile, was narrowly missed.

The Park County Attorney’s Office has charged the 64-year-old Gonzalez with four felony counts: attempted second-degree murder, two counts aggravated assault and battery and property destruction. Charging documents indicate the allegations are supported by the accounts of the alleged victim, his wife, multiple neighbors and Gonzalez himself.

“Yeah, I tried running him over,” Gonzalez allegedly said in a phone conversation overheard by a sheriff’s deputy. “I wanted to kill that f—-.”

Gonzalez remained in jail on Monday, with bail set at $100,000.

At a Friday court hearing, Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Laura Newton recommended bail be set at $100,000, indicating that Gonzalez’s lack of criminal history was the only reason she didn’t seek an even higher sum.

“The level of this offense is just egregious,” Newton said, noting that both the Ralston man and his wife were put in danger. 

“Apparently there was some rage going on,” she said.

Gonzalez didn’t offer any comments in response and Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah adopted the prosecution’s $100,000 recommendation.

“These are very serious charges,” the judge said.

A neighbor reported the incident around 11 a.m. Thursday on Ralston’s Bridger Avenue, telling authorities that someone in a gray sedan had crashed into a man and a garage before leaving the scene.

Responding Park County Sheriff’s Cpl. Tyler Patterson soon spotted Gonzalez’s Volkswagen on nearby Lane 11, with the gray vehicle sporting “heavy front-end damage.”

Gonzalez was “bleeding profusely” from a large cut above his right eye, Patterson said, and he had a large bruise and bump on his left cheek.

According to Gonzalez’s account, he’d believed the Ralston man had sold a UTV that Gonzalez had allowed the man to borrow. And on Thursday morning, Gonzalez said he drove to the man’s home to demand money for the vehicle.

The conversation didn’t go well, the affidavit indicates, with the two men coming to blows. Gonzalez reportedly said the other man, who is in his mid 30s, threw the first punch. However, the charging documents indicate that the man, his wife and multiple neighbors all said Gonzalez struck first.

Gonzalez suffered the wound above his eye in the fight, and although the resident offered his shirt to clean up the blood, Gonzalez angrily returned to his vehicle. While the resident walked into his garage, Gonzalez allegedly came racing at him in the Volkswagen.

The man’s wife was able to get out of the way, but the man was not. He was struck by the hood of Gonzalez’s sedan and “flew” about 8 feet backwards, his wife recalled.

Gonzalez allegedly tried driving into the man a second time, but crashed into a UTV parked inside the garage; he also reportedly hit a trailer and the garage itself in the process.

Given about 12 yards of burnout marks left at the scene, Patterson said it appeared the vehicle had accelerated into the garage “at a high rate of speed” and dealt “heavy damage” to the UTV.

The Ralston man was taken to Powell Valley Hospital, where he reported “severe” shoulder and arm pain.

Gonzalez was also checked out at the hospital before being arrested on suspicion of two counts of aggravated assault, with the sheriff’s office alleging he’d used his Volkswagen as a deadly weapon against both the man and his wife. As for the attempted murder charge added by Newton, it alleges that Gonzalez “did purposely and maliciously, but without premeditation, attempt to kill a human being” by trying to “run over” the Ralston man.

If Gonzalez happens to post the $100,000 bond, he’ll be barred from driving, from possessing any weapons and from having any contact with the alleged victim or other witnesses.