Man faces charges after long road chase
A South Dakota man is facing felony charges after leading law enforcement officials on a sporadic chase that stretched from Columbia Falls to Missoula County.
Dennis Earl Nesheim, 44, has been charged in Flathead District Court with criminal endangerment, criminal mischief and fleeing or eluding a peace officer.
He was arrested early Tuesday morning by the Montana Highway Patrol north of Missoula after evading Flathead County Sheriff’s Office deputies hours before.
Nesheim, who was reportedly either wearing black face paint or was covered in soot, was initially pursued after allegedly not paying for fuel at the Town Pump on U.S. 2 East in Columbia Falls.
A caller reported that he had used a fake debit card and that he claimed he couldn’t speak, instead passing notes to an employee.
Deputies followed his car to the parking lot of the Blue Moon Bar at about 11:50 p.m. Monday, but Nesheim sped away, crashed through a wood fence and escaped, according to court documents.
About an hour later at 12:46 a.m., a caller reported that a vehicle matching the same description was driving through landscaping at Pick’s Bowling Center in Bigfork.
A deputy located the vehicle driving on Montana 82 and attempted to make a traffic stop, but couldn’t catch up with the vehicle, according to court documents.
Another deputy saw the vehicle turn south on U.S. 93 and continued the chase at speeds up to 80 miles per hour. Nesheim’s car allegedly traveled into the northbound lane at about 100 miles per hour after the deputy closed in on him near Lakeside.
Flathead County deputies gave up the chase as they began to lose radio signals near the Lake County border.
Nesheim allegedly evaded Lake County law enforcement officials and made it all the way to Missoula County before Montana Highway Patrol troopers used traffic spikes to halt the car, according to court documents.
“Nesheim made several comments about the pursuit and stated ‘how [expletive] cool was that?’” according to an affidavit by Deputy County Attorney Alison Howard.
Nesheim was booked into the Flathead County Detention Center on Wednesday and remains jailed with bail set at $25,000.
He’s scheduled to be arraigned April 21.
Felony criminal mischief and criminal endangerment each are punishable by up to 10 years in Montana State Prison and a fine of $50,000. A conviction for misdemeanor fleeing from or eluding a peace officer carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a fine of $2,000.
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.