A 39-year-old Kalispell woman has been given a seven-year suspended sentence to the Montana Department of Corrections 10 months after she led police on a high-speed chase through downtown Kalispell.
Shalome Marie Denny was sentenced during a hearing in Flathead County District Court on May 16. The woman was given credit for 141 days served in the county jail and was also ordered to pay more than $11,000 in restitution.
According to law enforcement, the Kalispell Police Department received a report of a woman, later identified as Denny, who had driven off with someone’s phone. The reporting party said there was a male who appeared to be injured in the passenger seat and blood on the door and fender of the car.
Kalispell police officers located the vehicle and attempted to pull it over, but the driver failed to yield to officers. As Denny sped away, she called 911 and told a dispatcher that she had a handgun and wanted the officers that were chasing her to back off. The dispatcher tried to convince Denny to pull the car over, but she refused.
Because Denny was armed and possibly had an injured man in her vehicle, law enforcement continued to chase her. The pursuit went from Liberty Street south to the downtown area before heading back north on U.S. Highway 93. Denny eventually turned east on West Reserve Drive, where she drove around spike strips deployed by Flathead County Sheriff’s deputies. Denny turned on to Cherry Lynn Road in Evergreen to avoid another set of spike strips that had been deployed by the Montana Highway Patrol.
Denny then drove down a dead-end road, where she was boxed in by three Kalispell police vehicles. She tried to reverse her vehicle when officers entered the car and, after a short struggle, took her into custody. Denny was the sole occupant of the car. Law enforcement later found the man who had been in Denny’s car and learned that he was uninjured and had gotten out of the car before the chase started.
Denny was later charged with criminal endangerment and initially pleaded not guilty. In November, she pleaded guilty to the charge.