Mother faces felony charge for allegedly driving under the influence with child in the car
A Kalispell woman was allegedly under the influence of multiple substances when she crashed the vehicle that she and her young child were in last fall.
Prosecutors in February charged Shawna Jade Black, 30, with one felony count of criminal child endangerment for her role in the Oct. 3 collision on Two Mile Drive in Kalispell. She is expected to appear before Judge Dan Wilson in Flathead County District Court on Thursday for her arraignment.
Kalispell Police officers suspected Black of driving under the influence after a Two Mile Drive resident summoned them to the neighborhood about 4 p.m., according to court documents. The resident described seeing a red passenger car roll toward her passenger van with an apparently unconscious woman in the driver's seat. The car crossed over a boulevard and rolled over a grass lawn before striking the van, court documents said.
The resident told authorities that her attempts to rouse the driver before the collision — by yelling and waving — were unsuccessful.
After the car came to a stop, the resident checked on its occupants. The child appeared uninjured, and the driver awoke a few minutes later. The resident also allegedly spotted a compressed-gas spray can meant for dust removal near the center console.
Arriving officers also noticed the spray can and described Black as sporting bloodshot eyes, according to court documents.
Black agreed to a blood draw and a field sobriety test, which indicated possible impairment, court documents said.
But the blood sample sent to the Montana State Crime Lab came back for fentanyl, methadone and difluoroethane, which authorities described in court documents as "an intoxicating substance found in commercial compressed-gas" dust remover.
Black allegedly told officers she had an underlying medical condition that causes her to lose consciousness. She said that she had stopped using fentanyl regularly a week ago and instead gotten on methadone maintenance, according to court documents.
Black refused medical treatment following the collision and her child was released to a relative with her consent, court documents said.
If convicted, Black faces up to 10 years in Montana State Prison and a $50,000 fine.
News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.