Ronan man tries to hang himself in Polson jail

POLSON – After an uncooperative Ronan man suspected of extreme intoxication refused to give Lake County Detention Center officials permission to run a blood alcohol test, he took off part of his clothing and hung himself Sept. 6.

Though Gregory Hindle, 51 of Ronan, was not yet formerly booked, he was under intense monitoring in a Polson jail cell before he attempted suicide.

“They checked on him every few minutes, but somehow he did it anyway,” said Lake County Undersheriff Dan Yonkin.

Jail officers found Hindle after he hung himself but were able to revive him before he died, Yonkin said.

The chain of event began at about 6 p.m. when 911 dispatchers received a call from a citizen who noticed a car sitting still in the middle of Eisenhower SW, with a man slumped over behind the steering wheel, Yonkin said.

“He refused to cooperate in the DUI processing, but a deputy took him into custody and brought him to the jail,” Yonkin said.

If a citizen refuses to cooperate with the DUI testing, law enforcement officials are then obligated to obtain a search warrant to complete the processing, which includes a blood draw to determine a blood alcohol level, he said. Until that warrant is complete, law enforcement officers cannot take a persons clothing away.

“Just as we were about done getting paperwork ready, a detention officer checked on him again and found that (Hindle) hanged himself,” Yonkin said. “He was transported to St. Joseph's Medical Center in Polson, then transferred.

No information about his current health status was available at presstime.