SWAT team member critical of deferred sentence

The Flathead County sheriff’s deputy who shot a woman with an AR-15 automatic rifle in October 2013 says he doesn’t like the two-year deferred sentence the woman received from the Flathead County Attorney’s Office.

“I was disappointed in the county attorney’s decision to defer prosecution,” Caleb Pleasants said. “Anyone who assaults another person with a firearm, I think, deserves immediate prosecution. Whatever the findings are is up to the court, but at least then it’s tried.”

Michelle Gentry, 55, was reportedly armed and suicidal her residence on Eastland Crossroads, at the south end of Columbia Falls Stage Road, when Flathead County deputies responded. Deputies talked with Gentry by phone and confirmed she was armed and suicidal. When she refused to exit the house, negotiations were initiated and the SWAT team was called in.

Pleasants was one of the last team members to arrive and was not informed that Gentry had made statements about wanting to commit “suicide by cop.”

Gentry exited her home about 30 minutes after the county’s Peace Keeper armored vehicle was in place. She reportedly waved a revolver around, aimed it at law enforcement officers and shouted, “Do it, do it, do it, do it (expletive) now.”

Pleasants, who was inside the armored vehicle, fired 15 rounds from an AR-15 rifle at her. Pleasants later said Gentry made eye contact with him when she was about 15-20 yards away and pointed her handgun directly at him. Pleasants fired a volley from his AR-15, but most of the rounds hit the armored vehicle’s cowling. He took cover, checked his rifle for a malfunction and then fired a second volley, hitting Gentry twice.

Pleasants, who was cleared by a shooting review board, said the incident doesn’t affect him in his day-to-day work and won’t make him more hesitant to fire his weapon if the situation calls for it. He’s still an active member of the SWAT team.

“I’ve been through a lot, regardless of this particular case,” Pleasants said. “It’s legally within my rights to defend myself or other people, just like I’ve always done and always will.”  

He also believes that anyone who commits an assault with a firearm deserves prosecution.

“I’m very glad she recovered from her injuries, and I hope she gets the help she needs for her mental and chemical dependency problems,” Pleasants said. “But her assault on me and the other people on my team, which caused me to have to take the actions I did — which weren’t pleasant — it deserves immediate prosecution.”