Man allegedly kicks his way to a felony charge
Jun. 5—After getting drunk at a downtown Columbia Falls bar late last month, a 35-year-old man allegedly wandered over to a city building and kicked several vehicles in the parking lot.
Morgan Alan Pruett faces one felony count of criminal mischief in Flathead County District Court in connection with the May 29 incident. Held in the county jail with bail set at $15,000, Pruett is scheduled to appear before Judge Heidi Ulbricht on June 19 for his arraignment.
Columbia Falls Police officers located Pruett after receiving a report about 9:40 p.m. of a man in blue jeans and a black tank top wearing cowboy boots and a cowboy hat damaging vehicles in a parking lot near Second Avenue West and Seventh Street West. Pruett at first denied kicking anything, but later amended his story to say that he "did not kick anything that he did not own," court documents said.
But a review of surveillance footage allegedly showed Pruett kicking the passenger door of a white Ford Flex parked in the lot. Then Pruett headed over to a parked Columbia Falls patrol vehicle and kicked the driver's side door, court documents alleged.
The strike to the Ford Flex left a roughly 18-inch wide dent with an estimated cost of more than $1,500 to fix, court documents said. The patrol vehicle appeared unscathed.
After noticing signs of impairment while talking with Pruett, officers sought a preliminary breath test, which returned at 0.202, according to court documents.
Pruett faces up to 10 years in Montana State Prison and a $50,000 fine if convicted of felony criminal mischief.
News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.
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