Sunny White and Mika Westwolf.Photo:Flathead County Detention Center; Mika Matters
Flathead County Detention Center; Mika Matters
A Montana mother of two is facing charges after allegedly hitting a Native American woman and fleeing the scene in a deadly hit-and-run, say authorities.
White is also charged with accidents involving another person or deceased person, two counts of criminal child endangerment, and criminal possession of dangerous drugs.
White’s two children, Aryan, 4, and Nation, 2, were in the car with her at the time of the accident, theMissoulianreports.
The victim was later identified as Westwolf, who was a member of the Blackfeet tribe.
Westwolf was hit head-on. She died at the scene from multiple blunt force injuries.
At 5:23 a.m., a deputy with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office saw a gold 2008 Cadillac Escalade with damage on the front and a missing passenger side mirror parked outside of Polson, according to the affidavit.
The damage to the Escalade allegedly matched the description of the vehicle debris found at the scene, the affidavit alleges.
The deputy saw a woman, later identified as White, taking items out of the Escalade and putting them into another vehicle. White allegedly told the deputy that her SUV was overheating and she had called a friend to help her, the affidavit states.
White allegedly said she hit a deer but didn’t remember where it happened, according to the affidavit.
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She told the deputy that she was driving from Kalispell to Butte for the weekend with her children. She denied using alcohol and said she “hadn’t used methamphetamine or fentanyl in a week,” the affidavit states.
The deputy believed the defendant may have been under the influence of opiates, according to the affidavit, and White was allegedly “shaky on her feet” and “nodded off and fell in and out of sleep” in the back of the deputy’s vehicle when he took her to the hospital for a blood draw.
She refused to provide a blood sample, so the deputy had to obtain a search warrant for the blood, which was collected more than four hours after the crash, the affidavit states.
Police obtained a search warrant for White’s vehicle and allegedly found “a small makeup tube with methamphetamine inside,” five syringes and two unopened packages of Narcan inside, the affidavit states. White’s blood sample also allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl.
As police continue to investigate, Westwolf’s family and friends continue to mourn her loss. Her family started the “Mika Matters” movement to raise awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP).
“The fight to seek accountability, raise awareness, and protect the lives of Indigenous people and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives remains an ongoing battle.
White was arrested on an extra-jurisdictional warrant and was held over the weekend on a $200,000 bond, according tojail records.
She bonded out of jail on Sunday.
Lake County Attorney James Lapotka told PEOPLE, “I would like to thank the Montana Highway Patrol, the Flathead Tribal Police, and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office for their hard work investigating this complex case.”
It is unclear whether White has retained an attorney who can speak on her behalf.
source: people.com
