Guilty plea entered for chase, DUI

A Rollins woman has been convicted of leading officers on a high-speed chase that ended in a head-on collision in January.

Emily Woodman, 28, pleaded guilty to felony criminal endangerment and a misdemeanor DUI during a hearing Thursday morning in Flathead County District Court.

In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors dropped charges of criminal endangerment, criminal mischief and eluding a peace officer and are recommending she receive a 10-year sentence to the Montana Department of Corrections with five of those years suspended for the remaining felony count and six months suspended for the misdemeanor, to run concurrent to the first.

During brief testimony Thursday, Woodman admitted to being involved in the chase that created a significant risk of bodily injury and to consuming alcohol beforehand.

She had a blood alcohol concentration of .16 as she fled from law officers during a late-night chase on U.S. 2 through Kalispell on Jan. 6, evading multiple attempts to stop her speeding Chevy Blazer by driving around blockades and spike strips and colliding with law-enforcement vehicles.

The chase ended with a head-on collision between Woodman’s Blazer and a Ford Expedition driven by Sgt. Jim Browder of the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. Woodman was taken into custody around 1 a.m. Jan. 7.

Neither Browder nor Woodman sustained major injuries.

The Expedition sustained $14,000 in damage. Another county patrol vehicle sustained $3,500 worth of damage.

A sentencing hearing is set for June 17.