C-Falls man found slumped over wheel, faces DUI No. 4
A 34-year-old Columbia Falls man is facing a felony DUI charge for the second time in seven years after police found him passed out behind the wheel with the engine running in the Mike’s Conoco parking lot in Columbia Falls.
Dustin Hanson is looking at 13 months with the Montana Department of Corrections followed by a five-year suspended sentence and a $1,000 to $10,000 fine if convicted.
According to court records, Columbia Falls police found Hanson slumped over his steering wheel at about 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 13. Officers shut off his engine and summoned medical personnel after he didn’t respond right away.
Hanson allegedly agreed to perform field sobriety tests, which he failed, but he refused to provide a breath or blood sample. Employed with a wife and three children, Hanson was eventually released on his own recognizance with a SCRAM bracelet. His next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 30.
Records indicated that Hanson had three prior DUI convictions — in November 1999, December 2000 and April 2003 — but he faced a felony DUI charge along with a felony criminal endangerment charge seven years ago after he led police on a long, fast and wild chase in June 2006.
According to court records, a sheriff’s deputy initially went after Hanson’s white Subaru after he saw it speeding on Whitefish Stage Road. The chase allegedly continued onto the wrong lane on Schrade Road and then onto a lawn on Bowdish Road.
The deputy continued to follow the vehicle on numerous side roads around Whitefish Stage Road, through Happy Valley and into rural Whitefish, reaching speeds up to 100 mph. The Subaru went into a ditch on Highway 40, where one tire went flat, but the driver allegedly tried to ram the deputy’s patrol car before fleeing again.
Meanwhile, Whitefish police set spike strips at Armory Road and Second Street East, which flattened another of the vehicle’s tires as it passed by. Finally a deputy was able to “tap” the Subaru with his patrol car and force it into a ditch.
The driver, Hanson, fled on foot but was subdued. Three empty beer cans were allegedly found in the vehicle along with an open case of beer. Hanson failed field sobriety tests, refused to provide a breath sample, admitted drinking two beers and admitted putting people in danger by the way he drove.
There were additional charges of driving without insurance and with a revoked license. Hanson was assigned a public defender. He posted a property bond after spending 106 days in jail and was released on informal house arrest.
Hanson told a chemical dependency counselor in November 2006 that he had undergone a “transformation” while in jail. He said he went to church regularly and had no desire to drink.
In January 2007, Hanson agreed to a plea deal arranged by public defender Courtney Nolan and the Flathead County Attorney’s Office in which the felony DUI charge would be dropped if Hanson pleaded guilty to felony criminal endangerment.
In February, District Court Judge Stewart Stadler sentenced Hanson according to the plea deal, giving him a three-year deferred sentence and a $1,000 net fine.
Earlier in 2006, Hanson was arrested and charged with felony assault with a weapon resulting in bodily injury. That case was remanded to Justice Court as a misdemeanor.