A 26-year-old man allegedly fought with Columbia Falls Police officers during a traffic stop in May, leaving one with broken teeth.
Garrett Christopher Joubert faces a felony assaulting a peace officer charge and a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence, second offense, in Flathead County District Court following his May 22 arrest. Behind bars with bail set at $60,000, Joubert is expected to appear before Judge Danni Coffman on June 5 for his arraignment.
The alleged confrontation began after an officer spotted a red truck driving over the white fog line of the road near the intersection of Ninth Street West and South Meadow Lake Boulevard about 12:31 a.m. Following the vehicle, the officer pulled the driver over after watching the truck cross the fog line several more times and speed through a 25-mph zone, according to court documents.
The driver, identified as Joubert, immediately asked for a lawyer, court documents said. As he spoke, the officer described allegedly smelling the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage from Joubert’s breath.
Joubert, meanwhile, disputed the accusation he had crossed the fog line and told the officer he lived just around the corner — though his license showed a Whitefish address, court documents said.
During a subsequent standardized field sobriety test based on eye movements, Joubert showed multiple signs of intoxication, court documents alleged. He allegedly also swayed back and forth in a circular motion while undergoing the test.
An increasingly agitated and antagonistic Joubert declined to participate in any more tests, told the officer his ankle hurt and again asked for a lawyer, according to court documents. Though he told the officer to drop the drunk driving investigation and follow him home, he later consented to a breath test, but was unable to correctly blow into the device, court documents said. As he struggled with it,
Joubert allegedly began yelling at the officer “for not being out catching pedophiles and people who kill children,” according to court documents. He allegedly called the officer a racial slur.
When the officer told Joubert he was under arrest, the 26-year-old began resisting, court documents said. He tried to mule kick the officer and by then joined by a sergeant in the Police Department, and repeatedly tried to pull away, court documents alleged.
Joubert threw an elbow as he was taken to the ground, leaving the officer with a broken lower tooth, two cracked teeth and a chipped tooth, court documents said.
In the charging documents, prosecutors wrote that Joubert has faced drunk driving charges three times in the past five years and was charged twice with resisting arrest. He earned a partner or family member assault conviction in a case that began in 2020.
