Man pleads not guilty to hit-and-run

POLSON — An Arlee man pleaded not guilty to five felony charges for his role in a hit-and-run that injured four people in Charlo last month.

On Thursday, May 31, 21-year-old Jared Hendrickson entered his innocent plea in Lake County District Court to four felony counts of assault with a weapon and one felony charge of accidents involving another person or deceased person.

According to the amended information released by the court, Hendrickson “failed to immediately stop his vehicle at the scene of the accident and remain at the scene” after his 1994 black Ford flatbed truck swerved into a crowd of people, injuring four, on May 6.

The court affidavit alleges that Hendrickson and two passengers had been involved in a fight outside a Charlo bar. Witnesses claimed that after getting into the truck and driving a short distance east, away from the scene, Hendrickson made a U-turn and began revving his engine before accelerating toward Main Street. Just before reaching Main Street, the truck swerved to the left and drove through the group of pedestrians, hitting four of them — two males and two females. Documents state, the most serious injury was a compound leg fracture to one of the females.

Approximately an hour after the crash, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Police located Hendrickson’s vehicle on South Valley Creek Road. His girlfriend, 20-year-old Alexandria Trejo-Courchane, was cited for minor in possession and released.

During and interview with Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Lenz, Hendrickson recounted a slightly different tale of the evening’s events. While he admitted to drinking and driving his vehicle east before making a U-turn in the parking lot, he told Lenz that an unknown male had jumped into his truck and grabbed the steering wheel, diverting the vehicle into the crowd of people, hitting a female.

Hendrickson claimed he pushed the male out of the truck and drove away, unsure whether he had hit anyone else. A breath test registered Hendrickson’s blood alcohol level at .043 at 8:15 a.m.

After learning of the crash analysis performed by Montana Highway Patrol, Lenz re-interviewed Hendrickson, who admitted that nobody had tried to get into his truck, nor had anyone grabbed his steering wheel.

“He could not explain why he swerved to the left before hitting the victims,” county attorney Mitchell Young wrote in the affidavit.

Hendrickson faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in state prison and a $50,000 fine for each of the first four counts, and 10 years and a fine of $10,000 for the fifth charge.

He has been released on $5,000 bail and an omnibus hearing was set for Thursday, Aug. 2 at 9 a.m. with a jury trial to commence Monday, Sept. 10, 2012.