Officers assaulted, escapee jailed

A man wanted for leaving a Helena prerelease center faces local charges after he allegedly kicked, punched and tried to bite Havre police officers.

Douglas W. Jensen, born in 1992, faces a felony charge of assault on a peace officer and misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass and obstructing an officer.

Jensen was in the Hill County jail this morning on a $50,000 Hill County warrant and without bail on a Powell County escape warrant and a state Department of Corrections parole violation warrant.

He was arrested after officers last Monday at 1:28 a.m. received a call from a person living on Pike Street saying a man had just entered his residence. The caller said he chased the trespasser out of his home, and the man ran east toward the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line.

Three officers responded and one reported he saw a suspect matching the description — a blond man wearing a hooded gray sweatshirt — running up an alley by Blue Pony Stadium, a charging document says.

Another of the officers saw him near the intersection of 7th Street and Montana Avenue, and when he approached Jensen, he told the officer he was 17 and gave several different names. Jensen appeared intoxicated, the document says.

The officer took Jensen to the Havre Police Department, telling another of the officers when he arrived that Jensen appeared to have passed out at the 24/7 Sobriety Station.

When the officer approached Jensen, he awoke and began yelling at the officers, the document says.

When an officer approached Jensen, he rolled onto his back and began to kick violently, kicking the officer and twisting his ankle, causing the officer to fall to the ground, the document says.

Another officer tried to gain control of Jensen, and the first officer attempted to approach and was kicked in the chest twice.

Jensen at that time attempted to bite one of the officers and began trying to punch him.

The two officers then were able to force Jensen into a corner, roll him onto his side and handcuff his hands behind his back, the document says. Jensen then threw up and appeared to pass out.

Havre emergency medical technicians transported Jensen to the emergency room at Northern Montana Hospital, where he told personnel his name, age, and that he had escaped from a Helena prerelease center, the document says.

Havre law enforcement personnel confirmed that Jensen is wanted on a felony escape warrant.

Jensen was sentenced Dec. 31, 2012, by state District Court Judge G. Todd Baugh in Billings to three years, with part of the sentence suspended, for a Sept. 26, 2010, burglary.