No additional charges planned for corporal

A Flathead County Sheriff’s corporal will face no additional charges after being ticketed for driving under the influence of alcohol Aug. 28.

Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset said on Friday that Cpl. Bruce Parish did not collide with a transient near First Street West where Parish was arrested with a blood-alcohol level of .165.

The investigation ended Thursday, Nasset said.

Officers responded to initial reports that a man lying in the parking lot had been struck as Parish backed up in his red Ford pickup truck at about 10 p.m. in the VFW parking lot.

Nasset said the man had an injured hand, but a doctor at Kalispell Regional Medical Center determined it was not consistent with an automobile-inflicted injury.

“We do not believe, after the examination completed by the doctor, that there was actual contact between the vehicle and the individual [initially] believed to be run over,” Nasset said.

The investigation revealed the man was intoxicated and likely sleeping behind Parish’s truck. Nasset said witnesses heard the man scream, but it was because he thought he was going to be run over, not because he had been.

Parish works in the patrol division at the Sheriff’s Office. He was a law enforcement specialist in the U.S. Air Force prior to being hired in 1991. From 1992 to 1996, he worked on the SWAT team and later led it. He was assigned to the detectives division in 1999 and was placed in charge of that department in 2002.

He was a candidate in the Republican primary campaign in 2006 for sheriff/coroner, but finished third behind current Sheriff Mike Meehan and runner-up John Weaver.

Meehan has said he will wait for the conclusion of the court case before deciding on disciplinary measures for the veteran law enforcement officer.

The DUI charge is Parish’s first, according to court records. He’s scheduled to appear in Kalispell Municipal Court for an omnibus hearing Oct. 12.