Hearing for Tom Patrick canceled pending further investigation

A hearing scheduled for Monday in a case involving local businessman Tom Patrick was canceled after the Hill County Attorney dismissed the case against him pending further investigation.

Patrick, owner of Patrick Construction, is accused of pointing a gun July 21 at another contractor and BNSF officials who were on Patrick's property at the site of a freight train derailment about 8 miles east of Havre.

He was arrested on suspicion of felony charges of criminal endangerment, and two counts of assault with a weapon, a court document said.

He was scheduled to make his first appearance in Hill County Justice Court Monday at 1:30 p.m., but that hearing was canceled after Hill County Attorney Lacey Lincoln requested Friday the case be dismissed without prejudice because the prosecution needs a follow-up investigation before filing charges.

Hill County Justice of the Peace Audrey Barger dismissed the case as requested Friday.

Dismissing a case without prejudice means the prosecution still can file charges at a later date.

Hill County Attorney Lacey Lincoln said she cannot give a timeline on when a decision will be made whether to file charges against Patrick.

"There are numerous interviews that need to be completed as well as record requests that need to be made," she said. "Typically, the records requests take at least a month for processing and for a response to be given from the entity where the records were requested."

Lincoln said that, with the full investigation yet to be completed, she cannot comment on whether charges are likely to be filed.

A court document said law enforcement responded to a call at about 9:53 p.m. July 21 at the site of the BNSF derailment. The caller reported Patrick had threatened workers at the site trying to clean up the derailment.

At about 4:39 p.m. July 21, 11 of 25 cars in a freight train derailed about 8 miles east of Havre.

The court document said Patrick gave BNSF permission to clean up the derailment from his property on the north side of the site. Patrick Construction and Double R Inc. both were called in to clean up the site under the direction of the BNSF claims supervisor.

The document said the owner of Double R, who had worked for Patrick before leaving Patrick Construction to form his own company, said he had his crew working on the north side of the tracks when he saw Patrick pull up in a white pickup truck, get out of the truck with a rifle that had a scope and start walking around telling everyone to get off his land.

A BNSF employee told the lead investigating deputy that Patrick kept calling for the owner of Double R. The employee said he saw Patrick pointing the rifle at people. He said he tried to calm Patrick down, but although Patrick kept the rifle low by his hip and never shouldered it, the employee was afraid for his and other's safety.

The document said a BNSF supervisor received a telephone call from Patrick in which he, Patrick, said to get the equipment off his property. The BNSF supervisor told Patrick he was there with law enforcement and Patrick said, good, bring them too, the document said.

The report said the law enforcement officers believed Patrick to be angry, still possessing a firearm and to be challenging law enforcement, so officers began moving toward his vehicle with their patrol rifles.

As they were approaching, the document said, a Patrick Construction employee approached the truck and obtained the rifle, placing it on the hood of Patrick's pickup.

Law enforcement then arrested Patrick without incident, the document said.