Unwanted hug results in battery charge

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man was arrested Monday after a spree of strange behavior that included throwing rocks at boaters and hugging a woman against her will.

Wyatt Beau Hannan was arrested for misdemeanor battery for the unsolicited embrace and two outstanding warrants, court records show.

Sandpoint Police were called to the 100 block of Bridge Street shortly after 5 p.m., after receiving a report that Hannan was throwing rocks at people and boats and yelling. A woman told officers that Hannan contacted her and five of her friends and hugged her against her wishes, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Hannan, 31, was also arrested on a warrant for attempting to smuggle tobacco and a controlled substance into the Bonner County Jail in September of last year. A criminal complaint alleges Hannan tried to conceal a tablet of Buprenphine, an opioid painkiller, by taping it to his body when he was booked into the facility.

Hannan is charged with introducing major contraband into a correctional facility, a felony that’s punishable by up to five years in prison, according to Idaho Code.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank also added a persistent violator charging enhancement because Hannan has two prior felony convictions for possession of methamphetamine in Bonner County in 2012 and 2013. The enhancement would add five years to life in prison to the sentence he receives if convicted of the contraband charge.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.