Columbia Falls man racks up a fifth DUI arrest

A 46-year-old Columbia Falls man who pleaded guilty to DUI No. 3 last year is back in court facing another DUI charge, his fifth since 1992.

According to court records, Rodney Hoerner was stopped by Kalispell police on Jan. 19 around 2:15 p.m. following a report of a green Jeep Cherokee traveling recklessly on U.S. 2.

Hoerner allegedly failed field sobriety tests and then agreed to provide a breath sample. He blew a 0.21 blood alcohol content — more than double the legal limit. Records showed he had been convicted of a DUI on Nov. 9, 1992, Sept. 25, 2008, Jan. 31, 2011 and July 18, 2013.

Hoerner, who owns his home and has lived in the Flathead all his life, was released on his own recognizance with a SCRAM bracelet and orders to install an Interlock device on his car.

Last year, facing a fourth DUI charge, Hoerner pleaded guilty instead to DUI No. 3. Following a plea agreement, Flathead County District Court Judge Robert Allison sentenced Hoerner to one year in the county detention center with all but 30 days suspended and credit for time served.

That marked the second time Hoerner obtained a plea agreement that reduced a felony charge to a misdemeanor. His second DUI conviction came out of a plea agreement that amended an initial charge of felony criminal endangerment.

In that case, Hoerner was arrested on Dec. 29, 2007, after his vehicle left U.S. 2 and went into a ditch near Kila. His blood alcohol content following that accident was 0.295 — more than three times the legal limit.

Two women who stopped at the scene said Hoerner yelled at them to help push his vehicle out of the ditch. When they said they wanted to call for assistance, he allegedly got angry at them, put his distraught 14-year-old daughter behind the wheel and began pushing the vehicle by himself.