Demontiney charged in drug, chase case

A man is accused of crashing a vehicle after leading officers on a pursuit in Hill County and having over 17 grams of methamphetamine hidden in the car.

Makray L. Demontiney is charged with felony criminal possession with intent to distribute, criminal possession of dangerous drugs, marijuana, and fleeing a peace officer, both misdemeanors. Demontiney has a 2010 assault with a weapon conviction, and he pleaded guilty Oct. 16 for failing to register as a violent offender.

Court charging documents say a Hill County sheriff’s deputy and a Montana Highway Patrol trooper responded April 17 to a report of a stolen Jeep Cherokee in the Laredo Road area. There was also a report of a Monte Carlo coupe related to this stolen vehicle, documents say.

The two officers found and stopped the Monte Carlo, which was traveling east on U.S. Highway 87.

Demontiney, the driver, turned the car off but did not obey officers’ commands to get out of the car, documents say. When the trooper saw that Demontiney put the keys back in the ignition and rolled the windows up, he broke the passenger side window to stop Demontiney from fleeing.

The trooper was able to break the window and attempted to reach into the car and unlock the door when Demontiney sped off in the vehicle, which led to the trooper cutting his hand and his uniform, court documents say.

The officers went after Demontiney until he crashed the vehicle on Gildford Road, after which he was arrested.

Because the car smelled like marijuana, several hundreds of dollars were found on Demonitney and he fled after being stopped, officers contacted the Tri-Agency Task Force to investigate if the car contained evidence of drug distribution.

The next day, a U.S. Border Patrol drug sniffing dog indicated to a Task Force agent that the vehicle smelled like drugs. The agent was then granted a warrant for the vehicle.

After the center console was removed, agents found 17.2 grams of meth — which has a street value of about $1,600 — a plastic baggie with marijuana and nine pills that had not been identified by the time the charging document had been written.

At the Hill County Detention Center, the agent seized $539 in cash believed to be money made from selling drugs, documents say.