Latest news with #Pruett
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
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@
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
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@
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Yahoo
Rochester man found himself in the middle of the trial of the century
May 24—ROCHESTER — The nation was embroiled over the death of George Floyd for about three months when Mike Pruett got the call to bring his skills to the case. Pruett, founder and CEO of MLT Group, a Rochester-based digital marketing firm, was hired by the defense team to analyze and enhance video that was a key part of the case against then-Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The high-profile case was not the first time Pruett has been called upon to examine video evidence, often manipulating the video to show evidence that might not be readily visible. "Eric (Nelson, defense attorney) called me," Pruett said. "I'd worked for him before." The biggest case he'd ever worked on — Pruett has provided video analysis on many murder cases, though none with the national profile of the Chauvin murder trial — came with hours of video evidence. "There was the Chinese restaurant (across the street from Cup Foods), the convenience store, all the bodycams, the street cameras and all the people with iPhones," Pruett said. For Pruett, the evidence started with body camera footage from one of the two officers who first responded to the scene — J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — as they arrived at Cup Foods responding to a call that someone was passing counterfeit $20 bills. That accusation led officers to Floyd, who was parked across the street. The longest video — one of the police body camera videos — ran in length for about half an hour until Floyd was placed in the back of an ambulance and taken away, Pruett said. Some of the cell phone videos run closer to 10 minutes. All told, Pruett said, he watched several hours of video showing the same 20 to 30 minutes over and over again. So much so, that by the time the trial occurred from March 8 to April 20, 2021, Pruett said he didn't even watch the proceedings, only paying attention if he happened to see something in the news. Was any of the evidence he uncovered used in the trial? "What I heard from afterwards, from people, was that a lot of things (I found), they didn't put in," Pruett said. "But that's up to the attorneys." While Pruett said there were several things shown in the video that could be used by the defense or prosecution, what amazes him today was how people know so little about the scene despite it being such a notorious case. For example, when officers first tapped on the window of Floyd's vehicle, they seemed to have woken him up. On top of that, Floyd wasn't the only person in the car. Another man and a woman were passengers. "I've done this for over 25 years," Pruett said. "Doing forensics. Doing video enhancements. Doing slow-mos or stills for attorneys." In total, he said, he's been involved in somewhere between 200 and 300 cases, many in the Twin Cities. His career working on video for trials started when Olmsted County came to him, asking Pruett to digitize the video of a crime scene and make photos from the video. From that early effort, his reputation slowly grew until he began working on cases in the Twin Cities and as far away as Florida and Canada. "What I do is, someone will send me a video — an attorney or a police department — and they'll say, 'This is what we're looking for if you see it,' or 'Can you enhance this area here?' where they have a shot of a gun," Pruett said. "A lot of times the videos are not the greatest in the world. (But) You can enhance the blur to show, yes, that was a gun." Other than family and friends, Pruett said he doesn't talk much about the trial work he does. That includes this case. "No, I kept my mouth shut," Pruett said. "I want to be very objective to this. I try to show that I'm going to look at video and — Black, white, yellow, green, purple, whatever — if they were wrong, they were wrong." And with the proliferation of cameras — quality cameras — in public places, Pruett offers this advice for potential criminals: "People don't realize the amount of cameras that are in downtown Rochester and Mayo. ... So, stay away from Rochester."
Fox Sports
16-04-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Now an NHRA Top Fuel winner, Tony Stewart dishes on what is — and isn't — in his future
Tony Stewart still doesn't know how much longer he will compete in his substitute role for his wife, Leah Pruett, in her NHRA Top Fuel dragster. What he does know is, when he eventually departs, he will have at least one victory on his resume. The three-time Cup champion hopes he has more victories coming, but his win Sunday at Las Vegas was one for the history books. It was also one that ended some frustration, since he replaced Leah at the start of last season when they decided to start a family. Their baby boy, Dominic, was born in November and was with them for the victory lane photos on Sunday. "When does she plan on getting back in the car? I don't have an answer," Stewart told FOX Sports on Tuesday. "But I can tell you the thing that I made sure that was very clear to her was any minute that she decides she's ready to get back in the car, I'll step out. "If that's midseason, it's midseason." Pruett plans to do some testing this summer to see how she feels getting reacclimated to the car. "I want her to be driving her race car," said Stewart about their family-owned team. "So whenever she's ready and whenever she wants to, I want her to do that. She has told me that to this point, she's glad she hasn't because the amount of work that it takes to take care of Dom and do the work that she does at the racetrack with our partners and with the race team itself. It's all she can deal with right now. "So I don't anticipate anything changing before the end of the year. But again, it's going to be her decision on when she wants to get back in the car." As he made the media rounds on Tuesday, Stewart said in a session with reporters that they are still trying to figure out what his role will be when Pruett resumes racing. He isn't sure he wants to race against his wife. The team does, though, have separate cars for them because of their size differences, the seat and how the footboxes are positioned. "We've started those conversations of what does life look like in the next couple years for her getting back in the car. And one of the main variables in her equation is, what does that look like for me behind the wheel of a car?" Stewart said. "So we're trying to figure that out." What Stewart doesn't have to figure out is how to win. In drag racing, the car is a big part of the equation. And Stewart said it was frustrating as he struggled through the 2024 season. He said his team fought the ability to fine-tune the car and that when they made the adjustments, they overcorrected the original problem and caused new issues. "I've never been in a form of motorsports that it took me this long to be in contention to win and to win a race," Stewart said. "But again, it makes sense when you realize that you're 30 percent of the equation, not 70. "That part's been really frustrating, honestly." Four events into the 2025 season, Stewart sits second in the standings. However, he won't let himself think about winning the NHRA regular season. "We're second in points not because we've got the fastest car but because we've been consistent, and we're [advancing out of] rounds," Stewart said. "We've got to stay the course. We still have a long way to go to get the speed. ... We've got a big smile on our face that we're there in points right now. But it's not going to change our approach and the way we feel about where we're at right now." As to what else the future holds, Stewart ruled out a couple of things. He won't get back into an INDYCAR, no matter how hard people try to convince him. Fans have been begging him to take another shot at winning the Indianapolis 500, a race that he didn't win during his INDYCAR career. "The last time I was in an INDYCAR was 2001," Stewart said. "So 20-plus years now, to go there and even think that I'm going to be competitive is, in my opinion, very unrealistic. "Do I feel like I could make the race and have a solid showing? I do feel like I could do that, but I don't feel like I have what it takes. These guys are so good in these cars and have such a good feel and read on what these cars are and what the car needs. I don't feel like I would have that input to give to the team to help ... to have a winning car. "I've already got enough participation awards from INDY." And he won't re-enter NASCAR as a team owner. His NHRA program is factory-supported by Dodge, which is deep into the process of starting a program in NASCAR's truck series. "I told them I'll do anything I can to help them," said Stewart, whose Stewart-Haas Racing ceased operations after last season. "Obviously, right now [the plans] are just a truck program [for Dodge]. ... We'll do everything we can to help. But I am not going to own a team in NASCAR ever again." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. recommended Get more from NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
USA Today
05-04-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
The best of drag racing star Leah Pruett in images
NHRA top fuel driver Leah Pruett has been a familiar face on the drag racing scene, from her days running Funny Car and Pro Modified races to the present circuit, where she's been competing since 2013. Part of the Tony Stewart Racing team—and the wife of the former NACASR driver—Pruett has turned heads both on and off the track.
