Lawsuit filed in 2013 SWAT shooting
A 56-year-old Columbia Falls woman who was shot by a Flathead County SWAT team member in October 2013 has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Missoula claiming her civil rights were violated.
Michelle Gentry was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center in critical condition following the incident. She recovered and was charged with felony assault on a peace officer. A prosecution agreement for a two-year deferred sentence was reached in December 2014.
Her federal complaint was brought against the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office along with Deputy Logan Shawback, the SWAT team leader; Undersheriff Dave Leib, the SWAT team commander; Sheriff Chuck Curry, the incident commander; and Deputy Caleb Pleasants, a SWAT team member.
The complaint describes Shawback as a certified “less-lethal” chemical munitions instructor with access throughout the incident to a 40 mm less-lethal launcher, and Pleasants as the “lethal person” covering Shawback.
According to her complaint, Gentry had locked herself in her home on Eastland Crossroads, at the south end of Columbia Falls Stage Road, and threatened to take her own life.
Officers were dispatched to Gentry’s home, and three negotiators spoke to Gentry for more than two hours, including Det. Geno Cook, Det. Brandy Arnoux and Officer Alan Brooks.
“During this time, Gentry repeatedly informed the negotiators that she was tired and wanted to go to sleep,” her complaint states.
The negotiators had no reason to believe that anyone else was in the home with Gentry, and “at no time did Gentry ever threaten the life of anyone but her own,” the complaint states.
While negotiations continued, the complaint states, Curry and/or Leib ordered the SWAT team to move forward. Gentry then exited the house holding a gun.
“Without verbally instructing Gentry’s submission, Deputy Pleasants fired 15 rounds of ammunition at Gentry,” the complaint states.
According to the Kalispell Police Department’s Dec. 13 investigative report of the incident, Pleasants fired a volley from his AR-15 from inside the county’s Peace Keeper armored vehicle, but most of the rounds hit the vehicle’s cowling. He took cover, checked his rifle for a malfunction and then fired a second volley, hitting Gentry twice.
Gentry’s complaint claims that Pleasants “deliberately, maliciously, and/or intentionally used excessive force against Gentry without good faith reasoning.”
The complaint also claims that Shawback, Leib and Curry “failed to intervene and terminate a series of acts by others which they knew or reasonably should have known” would cause Pleasants to shoot Gentry.
The actions of the individual defendants were “unjustified, unreasonable, unconstitutional, excessive and grossly disproportionate to Gentry’s actions,” the complaint states.
Gentry is seeking damages for medical expenses, future pain and suffering, emotional distress, humiliation and loss of reputation. She is also seeking attorneys fees and punitive damages “in a sufficient manner to punish defendants and serve as a warning to other similarly situated persons.”