Man Allegedly Drove With a 6-Year-Old in the Car After Ingesting an Opioid

At around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, Missoula County Dispatch received a report that a vehicle with 15 county plates was “swerving all over the road” on Highway 93. The caller reported that the vehicle pulled over near mile marker 15 on Highway 93. A Montana Highway Patrol Trooper observed the vehicle drive through of a coffee shop within a few miles of the original complaint and he initiated a traffic stop.

When the trooper approached the vehicle, there was a female driver. She said her parents were tired. There was a male in the back-passenger seat asleep and the front passenger also appeared to be asleep, slumped over the center console. There was another adult passenger in the vehicle and a six-year-old child.

Court documents indicate the female driver did not have a license and the child was her little brother. She said her father had fallen asleep behind the wheel and acknowledged that he was the rear passenger. She said she asked her father to pull over and she took over driving. Her father was the registered owner of the vehicle and was identified as 46-year-old Brian McCrea.

The trooper observed irregular breathing in McCrea and the front passenger. The female driver explained that all of them were on what she believed to be “oxy’s.” The troopers were not able to get them to a coherent state of mind. The trooper administered doses of Narcan to them, which is used to reverse the overdose effects of opioids. When they came to, the front passenger said they were on Oxy and McCrea said he had taken Hydrocodone.

The trooper asked the female driver if she believed McCrea had put others in danger and she said “yeah.” She said she believed McCrea and the front passenger snorted the pills. The other passenger consented to a search of her purse and two rolled up bills were found with white residue powder on them.

McCrea was transported to St. Patrick hospital where he consented to a blood draw. The trooper followed up with the original complainant who said the vehicle was swerving all over the road and that it most definitely created a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to the occupants in the vehicle.

McCrea was charged with felony criminal endangerment and felony child criminal endangerment.