Patrick arrested for pointing rifle at workers at derailment site

A prominent Havre businessman was arrested on felony charges Friday at a derailment site, where his own company had equipment, for allegedly pointing a rifle at BNSF workers and subcontractors as they attempted to remove debris from nearby land that he owned.

Tom Patrick, owner of Patrick Construction, which was one of the contractors working on clearing the site Friday, was arrested Friday night on felony charges of assault by coercion, intimidation or threat, criminal endangerment and assault with a weapon.

He was listed in the Hill County Detention Center roster Saturday as being held without bond pending charges, then being held on $50,000 bond Sunday morning and was not on the roster Monday or Tuesday.

A representative of Patrick Construction referred questions the company's attorney, who was not available for comment by filing deadline this evening.

According to a court document, at 9:53 p.m. Friday night a BNSF worker called 911 saying a property owner where the derailment had occurred had threatened workers with a gun, including pointing the weapon at someone's head.

The document says Patrick never shouldered the weapon, instead letting it hang low at his side as he pointed it.

The document said the weapon was a .22 caliber Browning tube-fed lever action rifle. The firearm stores ammunition in a tube parallel to the barrel, and ammunition cannot be seen unless the tube end is opened and the contents dumped out.

"As there was a spent casing inside the action, the rifle could not have been ensured to be clear of any ammunition," the document said.

It said Patrick has a concealed carry permit, which requires weapons training that Patrick's actions violate on many counts.

"By pointing a rifle at five construction workers, Thomas Patrick committed the offense of criminal endangerment," the document said. "By causing reasonable fear of serious bodily injury by pointing a rifle at people, Tom committed the offense of assault with a weapon."

The document said the deputies responded to the incident Friday evening along with state troopers after receiving the 9:53 p.m. call.

The document said that a deputy met the site with BNSF workers, as well as construction workers who had seen the incident.

According to the document, Patrick Construction and Double R were the two companies helping to clean up the derailment as subcontractors.

The document said Patrick gave BNSF permission to perform cleanup operations on the property.

It says both companies were directed to start cleanup on the property but when the Double R crew started their work Patrick pulled up in his pickup truck, took out a rifle and yelled at them to "get the (expletive) off my land," and yelled for Double R owner Ryan Riley to be brought to him while pointing the rifle at everyone.

The document said multiple workers witnessed the event, all of whom said they saw the same thing, and photos taken at the scene clearly showed Patrick holding the rifle with his finger near the trigger of the rifle.

Riley immediately radioed his workers to get off the site and they retreated to safety, the document said, moving to the other side of the highway.

"When I asked Ryan (Riley) what he thought, he said he didn't think Tom (Patrick) would actually shoot him, as he has known Tom for several years and worked for Tom for 15 years," the document said.

Cleanup operations soon ceased, the document said, and after law enforcement had arrived an investigating deputy overheard a phone conversation between a BNSF worker and Patrick in which the former told Patrick that law enforcement was there.

During the call, the document said, Patrick told the employee to bring them all along with Riley and hung up.

The document said some of this conversation may have been caught by the deputy's vehicle's audio recording system.

The document said it appeared to the deputy that Patrick was challenging them and after telling the Double R owner about the call, Riley said he felt like the situation was more serious than he thought and Patrick might actually try to shoot him.

The document said the deputy and his fellow officers approached Patrick's pickup truck, which he had since returned to, to make contact with him.

The document said the officers took their patrol rifles with them and approached through the train wreck using the debris from the derailment as cover.

Upon approach they noticed a Patrick Construction employee, who had pulled up next to Patrick's vehicle earlier, had taken the rifle and placed it on the hood of Patrick's pickup.

After this officers approached and ordered Patrick to lay on the ground, which he did, and placed him in handcuffs and transported him to the Hill County Detention Center without incident.

The document said a deputy also found a Ruger .22 caliber handgun which was seized for safekeeping along with the rifle.

Havre Daily News employees did not see Patrick Construction equipment at the site Saturday afternoon. BNSF had not responded by printing deadline today to a request for information.