Two held in attack on Vegas school crossing guard
A man and his girlfriend are facing battery charges and a former police officer is nursing a torn face following a Monday morning attack on a 64-year-old crossing guard in the south Las Vegas Valley.
Adam Kondrat was driving about 50 mph and cutting off other vehicles in a school zone just after 7:45 a.m. Monday, near Gehring Elementary School, at Maryland Parkway near Silverado Ranch Boulevard, when a crossing guard forced him to stop, according to his arrest report.
Kondrat, 21, got out of his car and attacked crossing guard Dano McKay, 64, kicking and punching him until he fell to the ground and dropped his stop sign, a witness told police.
Kondrat’s girlfriend, 22-year-old Sabrina J. Torres, then picked up the stop sign and handed it to Kondrat, witnesses told police. Kondrat looked like he was going to strike McKay with the sign when a retired police sergeant intervened.
Robert Gibbs, who is currently a railroad police officer, was on his motorcycle driving to his daughter’s high school when he saw the door of Kondrat’s black Audi pop open. He watched Kondrat get out of the car, walk up to McKay and punch him in the face.
“He was completely off the chain,” Gibbs said Tuesday in an interview. After spending 21 years in the Marine Corps, three years with Nevada Highway Patrol and 14 years with Metro, stopping the fight was a natural reaction, Gibbs said.
Kondrat was on top of the crossing guard, punching him repeatedly, when Gibbs, 55, ran over to them and tried to pull Kondrat off. Torres then jumped on Gibbs’ back to pull him away from her boyfriend.
“As I’m on top of him, he starts reaching behind him and grabbing at whatever he can,” Gibbs said.
That’s when Kondrat used his finger to “fishhook” the side of Gibbs’ face, ripping the corner of his mouth. Gibbs would later receive six stitches for the wound, which doctors told police will leave a permanent scar.
Gibbs said Kondrat yelled that he would kill him.
Officers arrived and took Kondrat into custody, at which point Torres began to scream at officers, moving toward them. When she didn’t listen to officers telling her to walk away, they took Torres into custody and Kondrat began yelling obscenities at his arresting officer and kicking him, the report said.
Once inside the patrol car, Kondrat yelled gay slurs at both police officers and said he wanted their badge numbers so he could harm them and their families, the arrest report said.
Kondrat is being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail. He faces charges battery of a person over 60 years old, committing mayhem for the scarring of McKay’s face, resisting a police officer and obstructing traffic.
Kondrat is scheduled to appear in court today for the charges from Monday’s attack, as well as a DUI charge from September 2013. He also has a preliminary hearing set for Nov. 18 in a robbery case and a domestic battery charge filed Aug. 26.
Torres is also being held at the detention center and faces charges of battery, conspiracy to commit mayhem and giving a false statement to a police officer. Her bail is set at $4,000.
Gibbs, who spoke with clarity despite his stitches, said he believed Kondrat “was doing more than drinking.”
He also commended crossing guards.
“Give them a break,” he said. “They’re providing a genuine service, getting your kids to and from school. Appreciate them.”
Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Find her on Twitter: @lauxkimber.
