Billings, MT - Drunken 18 Yr. Old Steals Big Horn Co.
Sheriff's Patrol Car With K-9 Inside From Traffic Scene
Of The Gazette Staff
A woman accused of driving off in a Sheriff's Office patrol car with the
deputy's K-9 partner inside was charged Tuesday in Justice Court.
Kayla Dawn Roundstone, 18, of Lodge Grass, appeared by video from the county
jail on charges of felony theft and misdemeanor drunken driving. Judge Pro Tem
Kris Copenhaver set Roundstone's bond at $10,000 and ordered her to appear
Monday for arraignment in District Court.
According to court records, deputies were sent at about 3:30 a.m. Monday to
check on a report of a man who jumped out of a moving vehicle in the area of
Pryor Creek Road and Highway 87 East.
Deputy Richard Hoffman arrived first and said he found a Ford Expedition whose
occupants were arguing.
A woman jumped out of the driver's seat and told Hoffman she had called 911
about an injured man in the ditch. Hoffman approached the man, who then jumped
out of the ditch and began to run away. Hoffman stopped the man and saw that he
appeared to be bleeding and his shirt was bloody.
The injured man told Hoffman that he was with his girlfriend and others in the
Expedition when a fight broke out.
He said two men attacked him and his girlfriend, and the men were still in the
vehicle.
"Upon hearing this, the occupants in the Expedition drove off on Highway 87
East," a court affidavit states. "Deputy Hoffman noticed a female subject on the
roadway running after the Expedition."
As Hoffman, the injured man and his girlfriend walked back to Hoffman's
patrol car, the woman running on the road turned and ran to the patrol car, got
in and drove away. The patrol car's lights were still flashing and Hoffman's K-9
partner, Aron, was still inside.
Another deputy picked up Hoffman and they set out eastbound on Highway 87
East to find the missing patrol car. About 35 minutes later, two Big Horn County
sheriff's deputies found and stopped the stolen patrol car on the highway. The
patrol car was not damaged and Aron was apparently not injured.
After she was arrested, Roundstone gave a breath sample that showed her
blood-alcohol level was 0.162 percent, more than twice the state legal limit for
driving, court records said.
It was unclear from court records what happened to the injured man, his
girlfriend and the people in the Expedition.
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