Man charged after crashing into Kalispell house
A pickup truck rests on the front porch of a Kalispell home just after midnight Tuesday. According to a police report, the man was arrested after the accident. A resident of the home said the truck went into her bedroom and moved her bed about one foot. They were no reported injuries. (Desmond Maust/Daily Inter Lake)
A Kalispell woman narrowly avoided being injured after a pickup truck struck her home a few feet from her bed early Tuesday morning.
The driver of the Ford F-150, Evan Wayne Gardner, 36, of Kalispell, is facing charges resulting from the crash, including felony criminal endangerment and misdemeanor DUI.
According to the charging document, the woman told a Kalispell police officer she was asleep at her home on Third Avenue West North when she awoke to the sound of breaking glass. She saw headlights through her bedroom window and when she looked, she saw a pickup truck had crashed into one of the bedroom walls.
She also told the officer she saw a man trying to free the truck from where it rested on her porch.
Another officer saw Gardner standing near the driver’s side of the truck holding a black and red ratchet strap.
A third officer smelled alcohol when he spoke to Gardner. Gardner reportedly kept asking for someone to contact his business partner so he could come and get a dog inside the truck. The officer said Gardner’s speech was slurred.
When the officer asked Gardner to perform field sobriety tests, the man allegedly refused and declined to give a blood sample. The officer then got a warrant to obtain a sample of Gardner’s blood.
According to the charging document, a review of Gardner’s criminal history indicated he had two previous convictions for DUI.
Other court documents indicated Gardner was cited for DUI in Whitefish in December 2009.
Gardner faces a maximum of 10 years in the Montana State Prison on the endangerment charge and one year on the DUI charge.
Gardner is being held in the Flathead County Detention Center. His arraignment is set for 9 a.m. Thursday, April 29.
Scott Shindledecker may be reached at 758-4441 or sshindledecker@dailyinterlake.com.