A trial date has been set for a Poulsbo man charged with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly crashed his truck into his girlfriend’s car after he saw her giving another man a ride.

Brian James Kaveney Ruck, 33, was charged with the two felony offenses in November 2021.

Ruck was transferred from Kitsap County, where he had been incarcerated on another charge, to Jefferson County Jail last week. He was arraigned on the charges via video from the jail Monday in Jefferson County Superior Court.

Ruck entered pleadings of “not guilty” to both charges.

Superior Court Judge Keith Harper set Ruck’s trial for Jan. 9 through
Jan. 12.

Ruck was arrested
Nov. 21, 2021 after deputies responded to the scene of a car crash on Eaglemount Road at Grouse Lane in Port Townsend.

A witness told deputies that he had seen a Mazda RX-8 in the ditch on Eaglemount Road after it hit a telephone pole, and a red Chevy truck was parked nearby.

A man later identified as Ruck got out of the truck to pull a woman out of the Mazda.

The man and the woman got into the pickup truck and sped away, the witness said, and another man emerged from the Mazda with a dog and started walking south on Eaglemount Road.

The pickup was later found abandoned on Lind Road several miles away, but the driver’s side door was missing and the truck had extensive front end damage.

Authorities soon found the man who had been seen getting out of the wrecked Mazda walking away.

He told authorities he had been with the woman driving the Mazda, and that she was a friend and they had met earlier at Fat Smitty’s.

He also told deputies that the woman was dating Ruck, but she had accused Ruck of cheating on her. She also said she had seen Ruck’s phone was equipped with a GPS app that would show the location of his girlfriend’s vehicle, and she later found a GPS device in her car and thought Ruck was tracking her.

Ruck found the pair, the man said, and began challenging him through the window of the Mazda. He also said Ruck started to strike the windows of the Mazda with something black, cracking the windshield and breaking a passenger window.

When the girlfriend tried to drive away on Highway 20, Ruck chased after them and attempted to run the Mazda off the road. She eventually turned onto Eaglemount Road, but Ruck followed and then passed them, then slammed on his brakes and opened his door.

The Mazda sheered the door off the truck as it went by.

The man said Ruck caught up to them again and used his truck to push the Mazda into the ditch. The Mazda went spinning into the ditch and hit a pole, the man said, and Ruck continued to yell at them as he approached the vehicle.

The man said he saw a 12-gauge shotgun in the back of the vehicle and when he started pulling the gun forward, the shotgun went off and fired through the front windshield.

He also said Ruck made several threats to kill both of them, but left with the woman in the Chevy.

Ruck made an initial appearance in court but then was a no-show for his arraignment in Jefferson County.

His attorney said Monday that Ruck did not make that court appearance because he was in jail in Kitsap.

Ruck had previously posted bail in Jefferson County and was released following his arraignment Monday.