Topeka ? A fired Topeka police officer whose squad car went through a stop sign and hit a truck, killing its driver, will be tried on a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Shawnee County District Judge Eric Rosen issued his ruling Thursday and set Michael D. Cruse’s trial for Nov. 4.

Besides the felony manslaughter charge, Cruse, 31, also will be tried on misdemeanor traffic offenses.

Cruse, a four-year veteran of the department, was responding April 30 to what turned out to be a false burglar alarm when his police car collided with a pickup driven by Leonard “Butch” Porter, 61.

Porter was killed in the crash.

The Police Department fired Cruse June 17. Last month, the city and Police Department agreed to pay $425,000 to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Porter’s relatives.

Rosen also ruled that jurors in the Cruse trial won’t hear about an injury accident, also involving Cruse, that happened 13 months before the fatal wreck.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Karen Wittman had asked the judge to allow jurors to hear about the March 31, 2001, accident that occurred while Cruse was answering a police call.

Rosen said some evidence showed “similarities to the present case, (but) critical factors are not comparable.”

According to testimony, Cruse was responding to a bar fight on March 31, 2001, requiring him to make an urgent response with lights and siren and allowing him to disobey traffic laws.

But the burglary alarm to which Cruse was responding when Porter was killed was a routine call that didn’t require the use of lights or siren and didn’t allow disregarding traffic laws, Rosen said.