Page 13 - Flathead Beacon // 2.25.15

FLATHEADBEACON.COM NEWS FEBRUARY 25, 2015 | 13 Man Pleads No Contest to
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Assaulting Whitefish Police Chief
Caleb Buzzell changed
onour.
banking
community..
his plea in Flathead
County District Court
on Feb. 19
By JUSTIN FRANZ of the Beacon
The Kalispell man accused of punch- ing Whitefish’s police chief in the face on Halloween night has pleaded no contest to charges of assault on a peace officer.
Caleb Buzzell changed his plea in Flathead County District Court on Feb.
19. According to Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial and court documents, on Oct. 31, 2014 the Whitefish Police Depart- ment received a report of an intoxicated man stumbling in the middle of Spokane Avenue and jumping out of brush and scaring children who were trick or treat-
ing.Dial was the closest officer and re- sponded, finding Buzzell stumbling near the First Interstate Bank and yell- ing at passing cars and pedestrians. The suspect became agitated when Dial ap- proached.
“I just wanted to know who he was so I could give him a ride home but then things escalated,” Dial said.
When Buzzell continued to scream and yell obscenities at people, Dial said he decided to use a Taser to subdue him and place him under arrest. But the Tas-
Caleb Keilen Buzzell appears in Flathead County District Court on Nov. 13. BEACON FILE PHOTO
er was ineffective because Buzzell had a heavy coat on. Dial said he then tried to physically subdue the suspect, but Buz- zell then allegedly punched the police chief two or three times in the face, re- sulting in a broken nose, two black eyes and a few cuts.
Upon seeing Buzzell punching the police chief, two onlookers ran over and helped subdue the man until another officer arrived. Buzzell was placed un- der arrest and charged with assault on a
peace officer.
According to the plea agreement,
Buzzell will be sentenced to five years with the Department of Corrections.
According to Dial and various news reports, this was not the first time Buz- zell has been charged with assault on a police officer. Last year, Buzzell was given a deferred sentence after assault- ing a Flathead County sheriff’s deputy in 2013.
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Municipal Matters
A recap of recent city council and county commission meetings
KALISPELL
•The city is hosting a community open house on March 10 from 2 to 8 p.m. to discuss the South Kalispell Urban Renewal Plan. The city has hired CTA Architects Engineers to assist in creating the future vision for south Kalispell, and this effort includes gathering public input. A website with more information about the project has been estab- lished at www.southkalispellur- banrenewal.com
COLUMBIA FALLS
•Residents could soon be allowed to keep horses in city limits after the city council unanimously ap- proved an ordinance on first read-
ing changing the rules for livestock. The city’s planning board recom- mended the change.
•Columbia Falls was listed as the 10th safest city in the state by Safe- Wise, a national organization that reviews FBI data and crime statis- tics. The latest report lists Libby as the ninth safest city in the state. Data from the FBI Crime Report re- vealed 2.72 violent crimes reported per 1,000 residents across the state. That makes Montana safer than the average American city, which re- ports 3.67 violent crimes per 1,000 citizens. The 10 safest Montana cit- ies on the list averaged just 1.8 in- cidents of violent crime per 1,000 residents. That’s roughly 50 per- cent less than the average U.S. com- munity. No murders were reported by the safest cities listed, and 90
percent of the cities reported no robberies. Columbia Falls had 0.84 violent crimes per 1,000 residents and 27.63 property crimes per 1,000 residents. Libby had 1.52 vio- lent crimers per 1,000 residents and 24.71 property crimes per 1,000. The top 10 safest cities in Montana, according to the SafeWise study, were: Colstrip; East Helena; Dillon’ Glasgow; Conrad; Lewistown; Liv- ingston; Miles City; Libby; and Co- lumbia Falls.
WHITEFISH
• The city’s Local Government Study Commission is meeting at 6 p.m., Feb. 26 to discuss the municipal charter and possible changes that could be reviewed.
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