Mother of hit-and-run victim calls for tougher DUI penalties

The mother of the victim of an April 25 hit-and-run says her daughter will make a full recovery, but faces a year of rehabilitation and a potential mountain of medical bills after being struck by an allegedly uninsured drunk driver.

The late night crash left Madelyn Mishleau, 24, with a broken femur, neck and wrist bone, a lacerated liver and kidney, punctured lung and a concussion, said her mother, Katheryn Kingery. Despite the injuries, “the prognosis is remarkable,” she said.

Mishleau initially was placed in the intensive care unit at Logan Health Medical Center following the hit-and-run crash. She was walking her dog Silver, an emotional support animal, a little after 11 p.m. when they were struck. Her dog died in the collision, Kingery said.

The alleged 21-year-old driver, Gunnar Thomas Sweem, faces felony negligent vehicular assault and misdemeanor obstructing a peace officer charges in Flathead County District Court. He was arrested after returning to the scene, court documents said.

Prosecutors accuse him of driving under the influence in charging documents. When he reappeared at the crash site, Montana Highway Patrol troopers reported that he struggled to stand upright and boasted bloodshot, watery eyes.

En route to the county jail after undergoing a blood draw at Logan Health, Sweem allegedly told authorities that he was driving home when the crash occurred. He said he returned to the scene “because he has morals,” court documents said.

But he doesn’t have insurance, according to Kingery. While her daughter has moved from the intensive care unit to a regular room and soon will undergo several weeks of orthopedic rehabilitation, her treatment comes with a cost. Kingery estimates the hospitalization will come with a price tag of at least several hundred thousand dollars.

“She’s a young woman, she has bills and now she’s going to be out for the count,” said Kingery, who estimates that Mishleau may spend a year out of work while recuperating.

Friends have launched a GoFundMe with a goal of $10,000 to help offset the costs. As of April 29, about $2,300 had been raised through donations.

DRUNK DRIVERS need to bear a cost as well, Kingery said. The consequences of driving under the influence must be harsher, she said.

Kingery speaks with a background in substance abuse. She and her husband, who has 16 years of sobriety, own and operate Alpenglow Clinic, an addiction recovery facility with locations in Bozeman, Butte and the valley.

“There needs to be more accountability,” she said. “The laws have to be more stringent.”

A licensed addiction counselor, she has heard and seen it on the other side, treating people who come to sobriety after committing horrible acts in addiction.

“You name it, I’ve dealt with it,” she said.

Treatment can work, Kingery said, but addicts must be willing. Many, she said, are not. Some embrace a lifestyle of reckless behavior. For that latter category, the penalties must be harsh enough to deter, she said.

“[Driving under the influence] is on the rise and people make it a lifestyle; they think it’s funny,” Kingery said. “There is very little consequence to it. Even on the other side of it, treatment works when they work on it. There is no force to make them go [to treatment]. Sure, they get in trouble with their probation officer, but I think there needs to be a different structure.”

Mishleau understood that, Kingery said. She works at Alpenglow Clinic as well.

“One of them ran her over,” Kingery said.

NEGLIGENT VEHICULAR assault is punishable by up to 10 years in state prison and a $10,000 fine. Misdemeanor obstructing a peace officer — court documents alleged that Sweem refused to identify himself to highway patrol troopers — comes with a maximum of six months in the county jail and a $500 fine.

For Kingrey, if it’s not enough to have stopped Sweem from allegedly getting behind the wheel, then it’s not enough.

“People suffer, people are killed and then people will coddle the perp,” she said, describing her daughter as in excruciating pain and bruised from head to toe. “They don’t hear the screams and cries that I hear, the broken body, the disappointment.”

She plans to lobby for harsher laws against driving under the influence and vowed to speak with whomever — the governor, the public — to build support. It’s a conversation she is well-versed to have, she said, both from recent events and her professional experience.

“I think the public just needs to be aware that, yes, this disease is very maddening, but also there needs to be some form of accountability to stop the madness,” she said. “This is rocking my world. I know another mother’s world is going to be rocked — and she might not be so fortunate.”

Sweem is being held in the Flathead County Detention Center on a $25,000 bond. His arraignment in district court is scheduled for May 5.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.