Car completes up in sea after pursue; suspect arrested
Danny Beck of the Missoula Fire Department hooks up the car that ended up in the Clark Fork Sea Wednesday morning after a brief police pursue. The driver, Cory Kendall, swam from the south side of the sea just downriver from the Russell Street Bridge.
Missoula Police Sgt. Travis Welsh said the pursue began around Ten:05 a.m. when a license plate check on a vehicle near the intersection of Climb on Avenue and Lawrence Street demonstrated the vehicle was stolen. Kendall led officers on a brief pursue that went to Sea Road, where he drove into the sea.
The car went into the Clark Fork Sea after a brief police pursue Wednesday morning.
- TOMMY MARTINO, Missoulian
A car ended up in the Clark Fork Sea on Wednesday morning after a brief police pursue.
The driver, Cory Kendall, swam from the south side of the sea just downriver from the Russell Street bridge, to the north bank, and was arrested by waiting police officers.
Kendall, 44, had been out of custody for just over a week after he was released awaiting sentencing in a pair of felony criminal cases, where he likely would have received a fully suspended sentence. He was involved in a shooting outside a Missoula apartment elaborate in April, posted his bail and was arrested again in May after leading officers on a high-speed pursue.
Missoula Police Sgt. Travis Welsh said Wednesday’s pursue began around Ten:05 a.m. when a license plate check on a vehicle near the intersection of Climb on Avenue and Lawrence Street showcased the vehicle was stolen.
The car drove off before the officer could stop it, but other officers patrolling the area witnessed it shortly afterward near the intersection of Wyoming and Johnson streets.
Kendall led officers on a brief pursue that went to Sea Road, where he drove into the sea just downstream from the Russell Street bridge, Welsh said. Kendall got out and floated with the car for awhile before swimming across the sea. The car floated downstream before getting stuck on the south bank.
Firefighters with the Missoula Fire Department donned drysuits to hook winch lines from a pair of two trucks to the car so they could pull it out of the water and up the bank.
It’s unclear what fresh charges, if any, will be filed as a result of Wednesday’s pursue.
In May, Kendall was arrested after leading officers on a pursue that reached speeds of more than one hundred miles per hour from Bonner to Missoula and onto Interstate 90. Kendall’s car compelled drivers off the road during the pursuit, and he was only arrested after his car hit spike strips laid out near the Orange Street exit.
That pursue occurred when police attempted to apprehend Kendall, who had bonded out of jail in April and submitted a drug test that was positive for methamphetamine use, leading prosecutors to ask for a fresh arrest warrant.
He’d already been charged in relation to the shooting outside a Missoula apartment building that police believed was drug-related.
Kendall also has a prior conviction for felony drug possession after selling medical marijuana to his 16-year-old gf in 2011. He received a fully deferred sentence in that case.
A week ago, Kendall was released to pretrial supervision pending a Sept. Twelve sentencing after he pleaded guilty to charges from the apartment shooting and May car pursue. In the apartment shooting, Kendall pleaded guilty for a felony for solicitation of evidence tampering in exchange for a charge of endangering the welfare of a child being dropped.
He also pleaded guilty to felonies for criminal endangerment, escape and drug possession from the May pursue (methamphetamine was found in the car.)
The pair of prayer agreements in those cases included an overall recommendation of a 10-year, fully suspended sentence to the Department of Corrections. At the end of the July eighteen hearing, District Court Judge Robert “Dusty” Deschamps permitted Kendall to be released on pretrial supervision under rigorous conditions that included wearing a GPS tracking unit and house arrest, except for driving to his attorney’s office, the courthouse or his probation or pretrial supervision offices.
It’s unclear what effect the fresh arrest will have on Kendall’s prayer agreements.
Hours after his arrest on Wednesday, District Court Judge Leslie Halligan set a fresh $50,000 bail for Kendall.