Hammer Attack and River Rescue Headline Missoula Crime This Week

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office filed 10 new criminal complaints this week. District Attorney Kirsten Pabst provided this week’s crime report.

The Attorney’s Office filed two crimes against people this week. One of the cases involved a man who was charged with assault with a weapon and criminal endangerment.

“The defendant was allegedly staying in a hotel room he had not paid for,” Pabst reported. “Employees woke him up and asked him to leave. At that time he became angry, threatened to assault two employees, grabbed a hammer, and acted as though he was going to strike the female victim. He then allegedly retreated to his car, accelerated backwards, and nearly hit both of those victims.”

Numerous property crimes made appearances in this week’s crime report. One of the cases may have involved possession of dangerous drugs.

“We also charged three property crimes. One involved theft, tampering with evidence, obstructing and escape. In that case, the defendant allegedly stole a bag of items from the Poverello center, ran from police, and threw items into the river as he was going. In the second case, the defendant was charged for going through his neighbor’s garage and then possibly possessing dangerous drugs. It appears the burglary may have been drug motivated.”

Pabst also detailed the felony drug cases that were filed this week.

“We charged three felony drug cases, all of which involved meth. One was obstructing and theft: the defendant in that case was found passed out in a gas station bathroom, allegedly with methamphetamine, paraphernalia, and stolen property in his possession. Then there was another theft in which the defendant had a stolen bicycle and meth on his person.”

Finally, the Attorney’s office filed two administrative cases: one involved resisting arrest, and the other was an unlawful trapping case that went to court on Thursday.

This week’s crime report seemed to be dominated by property crimes and drug-related offenses.