Fight with family yields five-year prison sentence

A Kalispell man has been sentenced in Flathead District Court to five years with the Montana Department of Corrections after assaulting several family members and deputies.

Michael Donald, 25, pleaded guilty July 11 to a pair of misdemeanor counts of partner or family member assault and no contest to a felony count of assault on a peace officer, while additional counts of misdemeanor partner or family member assault, felony assault on a peace officer, and misdemeanor attempted assault with a bodily fluid and criminal mischief were dismissed.

On April 23, Donald pushed his mother several times and head-butted her in the face during an argument before fighting and hitting his father, grabbing his legs and causing him to fall into concrete and cut his face, requiring stitches. Donald also punched his sister and pulled her hair.

His family members finally were able to restrain him by sitting on him.

Donald also struck a deputy, kicked the window frame out of the back passenger window of a police cruiser, yelled at officers and continued to be disorderly at the jail, causing a deputy who was trying to cut the plastic handcuffs off of Donald to cut his finger severely enough to require surgery, according to a court document.

In addition to the Department of Corrections sentence, District Judge David Ortley also gave him one year of probation.