Page 10 - Flathead Beacon // 2.10.16

NEWS
Man Shot By Kalispell Police Charged With Assault Ryan Pengelly was shot by two Kalispell police o cers after allegedly pointing a gun at them
The scene the shooting at Looking Glass Avenue in Kalispell on Jan. 12. BEACON FILE PHOTO
BY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
The 30-year-old man shot by two Kalispell police o cers last month has been charged with felony assault on a peace o cer.
Flathead County Deputy County Attorney Stacy Boman led the charge against Ryan Pengelly on Feb. 4, less than a month after he was injured in a shoot- ing in his home on Looking Glass Avenue.
According to court documents, two Kalispell police o cers were dispatched to a home northwest of Kalispell after receiving a report of a suicidal woman. After talking to the woman, the o cers attempted to get her to go to the hospital with them. When she retreated inside the house, one of the o cers grabbed her arm and the woman called for her son.
Pengelly emerged from a backroom of the house with a loaded ri e and allegedly pointed the weapon at the two
o cers. The o cers told Pengelly to drop the gun and when he did not they opened re. The two o cers red six shots, four of which struck Pengelly.
Following the shooting, Pengelly was taken to the hospital for surgery. Pengelly survived and in an interview with law
enforcement after the shooting he said the o cers did not give him enough time to drop the weapon before they opened re.
“That’s probably what I did wrong, I pointed the ri e at him, it was wrong,” Pengelly told investigators. “If I would
have known it was a police o cer I would have put it down immediately.”
The shooting was investigated by the Flathead County Sheri ’s O ce, per Kalispell Police Department pol- icy. A week later, Sheri Chuck Curry announced that the two o cers – Sgt. Chad Zimmerman and O cer Eric Brinton – acted appropriately and were cleared of any wrongdoing.
Pengelly served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan in the U.S. Army and earned several medals. In 2012, Pengelly and his wife were surprised with the new house on Looking Glass Avenue as a part of Operation Finally Home, a nonpro t group that builds houses for wounded veterans who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
If convicted, Pengelly could face up to 10 years in prison and a ne of $50,000. A date has not been set for his arraignment.
jfranz@ atheadbeacon.com
County Commissioners Say Building New Jail a Top Priority As inmate population swells, Flathead commission searches for solutions
BY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
The Flathead County Commission hopes to nd a remedy for the communi- ty’s crowded jail.
Last week, Commissioner Gary Krueger said the jail was a “front burner” problem for the county government as the inmate population continues to grow. Last month, the jail housed 124 inmates, the most it has ever held in one night.
“We need to start planning now and we need to start saving to solve this issue because this jail problem will not be going away anytime soon,” he said.
Krueger said the county has been slowly setting aside money for the last few years
to fund the construction of a new jail or expansion of the current facility. However, Krueger said the county would need to save much more if it wants to build a new facil- ity, which could cost upwards of $20 mil- lion. He said the commission might have to go to the public to request a vote on a jail bond to cover any additional costs.
Krueger said he hopes the board would begin looking at making a formal plan to build a new jail over the coming months.
Commissioner Phil Mitchell echoed Krueger’s sentiment.
“We need to move forward with this,” Mitchell said. “We need to g- ure out where we’re going. We need to have direction.”
The Flathead County Detention Cen- ter was built in 1985 to hold 63 inmates, but today it regularly houses more than 100 people.
Last year, the county began looking at purchasing the old Walmart in Ever- green to convert into a jail, but the deal fell through when someone else made a bet- ter o er. That other o er has since fallen through, and County Administrator Mike Pence said the owners of the building know the county is still interested and the $2.8 million o er remains.
Krueger said purchasing the old Walmart would be an ideal solution to the jail-crowding problem.
“Buying that building is still the best
option,” he said. “That could save us a lot of time and dollars.”
Sheri Chuck Curry and other law enforcement o cials across the Flathead Valley have said the crowded jail has put a strain on o cers. In some cases, o cers have to give suspects citations instead of arresting them because there is no room in the jail.
“We have a catch and release program in Flathead County right now where we arrest people and then have to let them go,” said Kalispell Chief Roger Nasset. “(The overcrowded jail) is absolutely put- ting the community’s safety at risk.”
jfranz@ atheadbeacon.com
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