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From the courts: District Court

Man gets probation for drunkenly rolling car over, injuring passengers

A Havre man received one-year probation for drunkenly crashing and rolling over a vehicle, injuring the two passengers.

Keiffer T. Nordgulen, born in 1989, was sentenced Wednesday in state District Court in Havre, after a multi-day sentence hearing, to one year in the county jail — all suspended — for the offense of misdemeanor negligent endangerment. He received credit for one day served.

Nordgulen’s sentence is part of a last-minute plea deal that dismissed a felony criminal endangerment charge, as well as two misdemeanor charges, driving under the influence, first offense, and making false reports to law enforcement.

Court charging documents say a Montana Highway trooper responded Oct. 24, 2015, to the scene of a rollover crash near Havre.

The trooper who arrived found a black sedan flipped over on its top. A deputy who was already on the scene said two women, one who was trapped under the front of the car and had to be extricated, had already been transported to the hospital.

A third person, Nordgulen, was in the deputy’s car. Nordgulen told the deputy he was in the passenger seat of the car during the crash.

Nordgulen said he and the two women had been drinking at a local bar when they left. When speaking to the trooper, Nordgulen complained of chest and rib injuries, indicating he may have been the driver.

Nordgulen was transported to Northern Montana Hospital, where he had blood taken, results revealed a blood alcohol content of .131, far past the legal limit of .08.

After arriving at the hospital, and the trooper saw that one of the women who was in the car when it flipped was strapped onto a stretcher and about to be flown to Great Falls to receive medical attention.

The trooper talked to the other woman, who remained at Northern Montana. The woman said they were drinking with Nordgulen at two Havre bars before buying alcoholic drinks from a First Street gas station.

When they left the gas station, the woman said, Nordgulen was driving.

A video from the gas station showed Nordgulen walking to the driver’s door of the vehicle.

 

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