Libby man pleads guilty to driving drunk with infant son in vehicle

A Libby man accused of driving drunk with his infant son in the car earlier this year pleaded guilty on Monday, Oct. 17.

Mark Allen Sweatt II, 36, pleaded to an amended charge of criminal endangerment in front of Lincoln County District Judge Matt Cuffe.

Sweatt was originally charged with felony DUI, fifth offense, or in the alternative, operating a commercial vehicle with alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater, fifth offense, one misdemeanor count of obstruction of a peace officer, and one misdemeanor count of a stop sign violation.

Sweatt, who is free on bail, is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 5.

According to the criminal complaint filed by Libby Police Officer Cody DeWitt, he was on patrol in the early-evening hours of Saturday, May 14 when a Ford 350 pickup truck, allegedly driven by Sweatt, pulled out in front of DeWitt.

After pulling the truck over, DeWitt said he saw signs of impairment in Sweatt, including a strong odor of alcohol. Sweatt allegedly said he hadn’t been drinking and argued with DeWitt when he asked him to get out of the truck to take a field sobriety test, according to the court document.

According to DeWitt, Sweatt told the officer to arrest him for obstruction and that he would not perform any sobriety tests. The officer said Sweatt resisted being handcuffed before Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputy Derek Breiland helped DeWitt place handcuffs on the defendant.

Breiland told DeWitt that a one-month-old infant boy was in a rear-facing carseat in the back seat of the truck. The boy was identified as Sweatt’s son.

After Sweatt allegedly refused to take a breath test, DeWitt got a search warrant to collect a blood sample. DeWitt said in court documents that Sweatt argued, was sarcastic and antagonistic when the blood sample was collected at Cabinet Peaks Medical Center.

DeWitt said during his investigation he learned Sweatt had three prior DUI convictions, the earliest dating to 2006. Two were in Lincoln County and another was in North Dakota.

DeWitt also reported the incident to the Child and Family Services Division of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.