BOZEMAN, Mont. – Bozeman police arrested a man on Tuesday who is accused of escaping from Montana Department of Corrections custody in Butte and has been on the run since late October. A woman who was riding in the car with the man was arrested for drug possession.
Michael Morris, 43, was arrested on a felony escape warrant, Bozeman police Capt. Dana McNeil confirmed to the Chronicle. He appeared by video in Gallatin County Justice Court before Judge Rick West.
West did not set bail for Morris because he is a corrections department inmate, who is still serving a sentence.
Because his warrant is out of Powell County, Morris will likely be taken back there.
Amy Kriedman, 46, a co-defendant in the case is facing charges of felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs. She also appeared in Gallatin County Justice Court before Judge West, who set her bail at $30,000.
On Tuesday around 11:20 a.m., Bozeman officers responded to a hit-and-run car wreck on 7th Avenue near Interstate 90. Police believed the fleeing suspect was driving a stolen car.
An officer headed west on Interstate 90 saw a car matching the suspect’s car in a ditch near where the hit-and-run happened. No one was in the car, and police found two sets of tracks in the snow leading to trees in a field.
Officers used a police dog to find Morris and Kriedman in a nearby field.
Kriedman surrendered and was arrested for violating probation.
She told police that Morris was driving and that he fled the crash scene because he was “on the run.”
Police later arrested Morris, who McNeil said was hiding behind the trees in a field.
Police said they found in Morris’s car a sledgehammer, a pry bar and items with tags on them that appeared to be stolen, court documents say. Police said they would ask the county attorney’s office to tack on theft charges when a full inventory of the items was completed.
In October, the corrections department issued a warrant for Morris’s arrest.
In 2018, Morris was sentenced in Gallatin County District Court for felony partner or family member assault, according to the corrections department. He was given a 5-year commitment to the Montana Department of Corrections for the offense.
Morris had been convicted of felony burglary in 2004 in Park County District Court, according to the corrections department. Two years later he was convicted of felony partner or family member assault.
In 2015, Morris was convicted of out-of-state drug offenses, the corrections department said. It’s unknown what sentence he was given for the drug offenses.
