Woman gets 3 years for hit-and-run accident

A Columbia Falls woman was sentenced Thursday to three years with a recommendation for treatment for hitting a person with a moving truck and driving away.

Before receiving the sentence for felony negligent vehicular assault, 45-year-old Susan Joanne Pajnich read a prepared statement.

“I have relived the events of that night every day since,” she said.

She gave apologies and said she didn’t realize at the time that she hit Samantha Stover in the middle of the road in June 2014.

Stover suffered damage to her tibia, intense nerve damage and various fractures to her nose, jaw, eye socket and left forearm.

At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan noted that this was Pajnich’s first felony conviction. He added that the danger posed in the incident, however, warrants serious consideration.

“She could’ve struck at least one other person and we’re lucky we didn’t have two people dead on the highway that night,” he said.

District Judge Heidi J. Ulbricht accepted Corrigan’s suggestion of a 10-year sentence with seven of those years suspended. The net three-year sentence will be served with the Montana Department of Corrections.

Ulbricht recommended that Pajnich be put into the state’s WATCH program for alcohol addiction treatment.

Pajnich also will pay restitution to Stover.

On June 23, 2014, Stover and a friend had stopped on South Hilltop Road in Columbia Falls to check on an injured cat, according to court documents. Soon after, a moving truck driven by Pajnich passed through and hit Stover, causing serious injuries.

Pajnich didn’t stop.

A Montana Highway Patrol trooper later traced the moving truck to a home in Columbia Falls and met with Pajnich. A red substance that appeared to be blood stained the front of the truck, according to the documents.

The trooper noted that Pajnich smelled of alcohol and was unsteady on her feet. After her arrest, a blood sample revealed that she had alcohol in her system.

Pajnich pleaded guilty in February to the felony charge. She was taken into custody following Thursday’s hearing and received credit for 146 days in the Flathead County Detention Center.

Reporter Matt Hudson may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at mhudson@dailyinterlake.com.