Ex-police chief, wife charged in bar assault

Former Havre Police Chief Jerry Nystrom and his wife, Ashlie, have been charged with assault for an incident that took place in PJ's Restaurant and Casino more than a year ago.

The charges were filed Monday, just after the first anniversary of the incident.

Blaine County Attorney Don Ranstrom filed charges against both of them in Havre City Court.

Jerry Nystrom is charged with assault and disorderly conduct, while Ashlie is charged with assault.

They are scheduled to appear in Havre City Court on June 28 at 1 p. m.

On May 20, 2011, the Havre Police Department received a call at 1:20 a. m. of disorderly conduct occurring at PJ's.

The entire unedited report reads: "On 5-20-11 at 0120, Officers were dispatched to PJ's lounge. The caller reports that a patron was just assault. (sic) Officer spoke to and recorded several witness statements. Investigation continues. "

The initial incident report lists Ashlie Nystrom as a suspect and describes five unnamed witnesses as white males between 33 and 44 years old.

Ranstrom said that no other information is available to the public now because it is "criminal justice information. "

The incident occurred 10 days after Jerry Nystrom's resignation as police chief and not long before he and his wife moved to Oklahoma.

While the Havre Police Department took the initial call, they handed the investigation over to the Blaine County Sheriff's Office to avoid the conflict of investigating the former chief.

When Blaine County completed their investigation and handed over their findings to Havre City Prosecutor Tammi Barkus, she also handed the case over to Ranstrom, since she too had worked with Nystrom.

Ranstrom has said over the past year that he has been busy with a large number of big cases he had to get through before filing charges in this case.