Ex-deputy given deferred prosecution
By NICHOLAS LEDDEN/The Daily Inter Lake
Assault-with-a-weapon charges filed against a former Flathead County Sheriff's deputy will be dismissed on the condition he remains law abiding for six months.
Patrick Brian Ward, 39, was fired from the Sheriff's Office in 2002 for the unwarranted use of lethal force, but his recent legal troubles stem from an unrelated incident.
Ward, who was accused of threatening to shoot a private civil process server delivering divorce papers, signed a deferred prosecution agreement last week with the Flathead County Attorney's Office.
According to court records, the process server knocked on the front door of Ward's Good Country Road home on the afternoon of May 7. After answering, Ward refused to accept the papers and closed the door in the process server's face.
As the process server placed the papers outside the front door and turned to leave, Ward allegedly reopened the door and yelled for the process server to retrieve the papers or get shot.
The process server retreated for cover as Ward groped for a shotgun and then racked a shell into the chamber, prosecutors allege. The process server fled for his car and called authorities.
Ward surrendered peacefully on May 9 after the Sheriff's Office notified him a warrant had been issued for his arrest. He pleaded not guilty to assault with a weapon later that month.
Ward was dismissed from the Flathead County Sheriff's Office after two review boards determined that his shooting at a fleeing car on May 28, 2002, was an unwarranted use of lethal force.
On the night of the shooting, Ward and other deputies pursued a car on U.S. 2 near Nyack Flats. After a chase that reached speeds of more than 100 mph, the car skidded to a stop and several juveniles bailed out.
The driver, however, reversed direction and drove back toward deputies.
As the vehicle passed, Ward's shotgun discharged. Ward has said the shooting was an accident, and that he was quickly backing out of the oncoming car's path when his elbow struck his parked patrol car, causing the gun to fire. The driver of the fleeing car was not injured and later faced charges stemming from the incident.
An independent arbitrator in June 2003 found the Sheriff's Office was justified in firing Ward, who had been hired by the Sheriff's Office in 1996.
Ward, however, retained his police officer certification after a Montana Department of Justice board dismissed charges leveled by the Sheriff's Office.
The board found there was inconclusive support that Ward lied during the investigation of the shooting and insufficient evidence to prove that the shooting was anything but accidental.
Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com