High-speed pursuit ends with five-year sentence

A persistent felony offender who led police on a high-speed chase through Havre and then fled - and who was wanted for crashing a stolen vehicle a month earlier - was sentenced to five years to the Department of Corrections Monday in District Court.

Samuel Lynn Latray, born in 1982, was sentenced as a persistent felony offender to five years for felony criminal endangerment, five years for obstructing justice, a felony, and to six months in the county jail for fleeing from or eluding a peace officer and improper registration or display of license plates.

The sentences are to run at the same time, and Latray received credit for 114 days served in jail.

Judge Daniel Boucher also sentenced Latray for offenses committed earlier in the year, which shall be served at the same time. Boucher sentenced Latray to five years for criminal endangerment, and 10 days in jail for each misdemeanor count of failure to give notice of accident by quickest means, failiure to give information and render aid, and failure to carry proof of insurance in a vehicle.

The sentences were pursuant to a plea agreement that dismissed five other charges.

Officers received information Oct. 6, 2015, that Latray, an escapee from DOC Probation and Parole who had outstanding warrants, was staying at a Havre address, court documents say.

Tri-Agency Safe Trails Task Force agents surveyed the location and notified police that Latray had driven off. The officer later found the car, a green Chrysler sedan, at the intersection of First Street and 16th Avenue with Latray and a passenger in it.

The officer turned on his emergency lights, signaling to Latray to stop the Chrysler, but the car didn't stop.

"Instead, (Latray) increased his speed northbound towards the intersection of 16th Avenue and U.S. Highway 2 East," court documents say.

Latray then went through a stop sign and entered oncoming traffic. Two more officers "joined the chase at this point."

As he drove east on U.S. Highway 2, reaching speeds up to 98 mph, Latray weaved through traffic, passing vehicles "in a manner that put the drivers of the vehicles in danger of serious bodily injury or death," documents say.

The car driven by Latray pulled into a trailer court and braked hard, nearly causing an officer to crash into the back of his car.

"[Latray] continued to drive through the trailer court at a high rate of speed with disregard for the safety of the residents of the trailer court," documents say.

When the car reached a dead end, Latray and another occupant fled, leaving the car to continue forward, damaging a fence and ultimately rolling into an embankment.

Officers chased the men and Latray eventually stopped running and got into a prone position. The other man was arrested as well.

Officers said the pursuit "endangered motorists and pedestrians alike," as it passed several vehicles and pedestrians in the trailer park.

The other sentences involved an incident in which Latray was involved a month earlier.

Police dispatch received a call Sept. 27, 2015, at 4 a.m. about a minivan that had crashed and rolled over on the 1900 Block of First Street.

Reporting parties told the responding officers they saw a 2002 Chrysler Town and Country with one headlight heading east and then heard a loud crash. They said they saw three men flee on foot, "leaving one female, who appeared to be injured," court documents say.

Officers spoke to the woman, who said she had just met the three men. She told officers where the men may have gone, but said she was afraid to give any more information "because she feared what the three males might do."

Officers found a backpack and a purse in the vehicle, in which syringes, spoons and pieces of cotton were found. Officers saw that the driver side front wheel was bent sideways, the fender was crushed, the front end was damaged and the passenger side of the windshield was shattered.

"It appeared the front passenger may have struck his head on the windshield," documents say.

At the hospital, the woman said she was worried that the three men, who have "bad reputations," would find out she'd given officers too much information. She said she didn't use meth, but the men did and had begun to "nod out" because of it. Earlier, the document says, an officer had overheard the woman tell the nursing staff that she had relapsed and used meth.

After an officer transported the woman home, she told him that Latray and his brother had been staying at someone's home and they were very dangerous and maybe armed.

The owner of the crashed vehicle reported it stolen at 9:20 that morning, about five hours after the crash was reported. A deputy assessed that the vehicle was a total loss.

An arrest warrant was issued for Latray for that incident.