Eau Claire man charged with recklessly endangering safety after hatchet attack
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JOHN JEFFREY ROSE
REBECCA SUE DAVIS
By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A 50-year-old Eau Claire man has been charged with recklessly endangering safety after two investigators with the West Central Drug Task Force stopped him while he was attacking another person with a hatchet.
John Jeffrey Rose made an initial appearance in Dunn County Circuit Court May 20 before Judge Rod W. Smeltzer.
According to a news release from the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department, a Dunn County investigator and a Menomonie Police Department investigator were completing a drive-by of residence in the Town of Dunn May 19 where a homicide had occurred last November and was known to be a high-traffic drug residence.
Ryan L. Steinhoff, Chad D. Turgeson and Ashley A. Gunder are charged in connection with the death of Bruce E. McGuigan, age 37, of Hayward, at N2564 440th Street in the Town of Dunn November 17, 2020.
When the investigators drove by the 440th Street residence May 19, they saw a man, later identified as John Rose, take a hatchet out of a vehicle, and then, with the hatchet raised over his head in a threatening manner, run toward the residence.
The investigators requested assistance and then followed Rose into the residence and identified themselves to Rose.
By the time the investigators got inside, it appeared Rose had already struck another individual twice with the hatchet and was preparing to strike a third time.
With guns drawn, the investigators ordered Rose to drop the hatchet, and he complied.
During the course of the investigation, officers discovered that Rose and his girlfriend, Rebecca Sue Davis, had only just arrived and had allegedly assaulted two other people in the residence before Rose went out to his truck to get the hatchet.
While investigators were interviewing individuals at the residence, they learned the disagreement and assaults were over past owed drug debts, according to the news release.
Rose is charged with two felony counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, with the modifiers of being a repeat offender and the use of a dangerous weapon; felony bail jumping as a repeat offender; and two misdemeanor counts of battery by the use of a dangerous weapon and as a repeat offender and disorderly conduct as a repeat offender and with the use of a dangerous weapon.
As a condition of bail, Judge Smeltzer ordered Rose not to have any contact with four individuals listed by their initials in the online court record, no contact with the residence on 440th Street, not to be in the presence of drugs or drug paraphernalia and to have no abusive contact with an individual with the same initials and birthdate as Davis.
Rose was scheduled in Dunn County Circuit Court for a preliminary hearing May 24.
Davis, age 44, of Eau Claire, is charged with four misdemeanors, each with a repeat offender modifier: battery, disorderly conduct and two counts of bail jumping.
Bail was set at $500 cash for Davis during an initial hearing May 20 that was adjourned to May 25.
In the homicide case from November, Judge James Peterson set bail at $500,000 cash for each of the three defendants during an initial court appearance November 25.
Steinhoff was scheduled for another court hearing May 24.
Turgeson is scheduled for a court hearing in June, and Gunder will be arraigned June 14.
During a court hearing March 4, Steinhoff’s attorney, Matthew Krische, told Judge Smeltzer that Steinhoff wished to change his plea to not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.
