Halloween Weekend Crime Report: DUIs And Domestic Violence

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Last weekend was Halloween, and, unfortunately, Missoula County Attorney Matt Jennings said a lot of Missoula residents ended up dressing up in orange as jail inmates. 

“When we came into the office on Monday morning, we had 13 new in custodies from over the weekend, and they follow a pattern that we see on a lot of holidays like this,” Jennings said. “We had a lot of driving under the influence, a lot of drug use, and a lot of partner or family member assaults. Just in our office, we had seven DUI arrests last weekend. One of those was a 9th offense DUI. A couple of those involved extremely high-speed chases, one reaching 125 miles an hour within the city limits.” 

Jennings also mentioned a dangerous accident that occurred in broad daylight. 

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“A person was extremely intoxicated and rear-ended a vehicle that was parked right behind a school bus loaded with children at very high speeds,” Jennings said. “Luckily, those kids were OK. Most of the people who actually get involved in law enforcement interactions on DUIs are very intoxicated and are often involved in a wreck or extremely dangerous behaviors.” 

Read More: School Bus Stop Leads To Alarming DUI Incident In Missoula

According to Jennings, taking away a repeat offender’s driver’s license doesn’t usually stop them from drinking and getting behind the wheel. 

“I don’t get it,” Jennings said. “It seems like pretty easy steps to keep them out of trouble. Just don't get behind the wheel. Sell your cars. Even if you can't stop drinking, you can take steps to make sure you're not hurting anybody else. But there's a small portion of really irresponsible drivers with substance use issues that take up a very disproportionate amount of our criminal justice resources. It's unfortunate, something like 20% of the felony offenses we charge in Missoula County are felony DUIs and that means they've already had three.” 

Jennings said people only get pulled over for a very small portion of the time they drive under the influence. So, when someone gets a 9th DUI, he said that means they have probably driven under the influence hundreds of times. Jennings said there were a lot of violent offenses this week as well. 

“We had 12 violent offenses, and that is tied for the most this year,” Jenings said. “Eight of those were family violence, so almost all were partner or family member assaults. Basically, all domestic violence involves drugs or alcohol. We find that when people are sober, they might argue or they might get in a fight, but it doesn't turn as violent as it does when substances are involved.” 

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office provides a weekly crime report every Friday morning at 9:00 on Talk Back.