A Columbia Falls woman is suing the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, claiming excessive force was used during a 2013 incident that left her with two gunshot wounds.

Michelle Gentry, 56, filed the civil case in U.S. District Court on April 3. The lawsuit names Sheriff Chuck Curry, Undersheriff Dave Leib and Caleb Pleasants, the deputy who fired at Gentry.

The legal action comes four months after Gentry received deferred prosecution for assault on a peace officer,a charge she faced after the 2013 standoff with law enforcement in which she was shot. 

The Sheriff’s Office has maintained that Pleasants reacted appropriately when Gentry allegedly raised a gun at the deputy. In her lawsuit, however, Gentry claims that Pleasants’ actions were “egregious,” “unjustifiable” and in violation of her right to due process.

What both sides agree on is that Gentry was suicidal when the Sheriff’s Office responded to her Eastland Crossing home on Oct. 10, 2013. Deputies contacted Gentry by phone and learned that she was armed. The situation turned into a negotiation. The SWAT team and ambulance later were called to the scene.

Discrepancies of perspective and semantics surround what happened at around 6:30 p.m., when Gentry exited the house. 

According a review of the incident by the Kalispell Police Department, Pleasants said Gentry made eye contact and raised the handgun, pointing it directly at him. Gentry could be heard on a negotiator’s recording saying, “Do it, do it [expletive] now!,” according to the review.

Pleasants told a Kalispell police captain that he thought he was going to get shot.

The complaint filed by Gentry carries a slightly different view. It says that she came out of the house “holding a gun” and Pleasants fired without warning. It also makes the claim that Leib and Curry failed to advise a nonlethal response.

Pleasants fired 15 rounds from an assault rifle, and the last two struck and wounded Gentry. After her recovery, the legal process started for the felony charge of assault on a peace officer.

Disputes over certain factors arose throughout the case. One involved the idea that Pleasants didn’t know that Gentry had told negotiators that she intended to force them to shoot her. Others questioned whether or not Gentry posed a real threat to Pleasants.

Gentry pleaded not guilty and in December 2014, the Flathead County Attorney’s Office agreed to a deferred prosecution in the case. That means that if Gentry remains law abiding until November 2016, the charge will be dropped.

The Sheriff’s Office has stood by its SWAT tactics and the action taken by Pleasants. After an administrative leave, he returned to duty and continues that work today. Curry said in December that if somebody points a gun directly at a law enforcement officer, it’s going to elicit a potentially lethal response.

On Friday, Curry wouldn’t comment specifically on the case and said that his office hasn’t yet received all the formal documents. He did say that the work of the Sheriff’s Office hasn’t changed.

“It certainly doesn’t affect how we continue to do our job on a daily basis, regardless of who’s suing us,” Curry said.

Gentry’s attorneys did not immediately return requests for comment.

The crux of the lawsuit is Gentry’s view that Pleasants used excessive force and that nobody in the department stopped him. According to the complaint, she is seeking damages for “deprivation of constitutional rights,” medical bills and emotional distress as a result of the incident.

No dollar amount for the requested damages was specified in the lawsuit.

Court proceedings will take place in U.S. District Court in Missoula. A hearing has not yet been set.

Reporter Matt Hudson may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at [email protected].