Man charged with pan assault

A Kalispell man has been charged with felony assault with a weapon after allegedly hitting a 15-year-old boy with cooking pans in January.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Steven Haze Bell following a Flathead County Sheriff’s Office investigation that showed the boy had several welts on his head, neck and leg after the alleged assault.

According to court documents, Bell went to a party at a home on Armory Road east of Whitefish Jan. 30 following a church sledding outing.

The boy’s mother told the boy and a friend to go to bed at about 10 p.m. When they refused, she asked Bell to take them to a bedroom, according to court documents.

Bell, 39, allegedly grabbed two pans, began banging them together and chased the boys toward the room, striking the 15-year-old in the neck and knee with one of the pans.

Later, the boys again left the room and Bell allegedly wielded a pan once more.

“Bell continued hitting [the boy] with the pan, so [the boy] shot Bell in the lip with an Airsoft gun,” Deputy County Attorney Kenneth Park wrote in an affidavit dated April 7.

 Angered, Bell allegedly continued hitting the boy with a pan, prompting him to ask Bell to stop hitting him because it hurt.

“It’s supposed to hurt, you little [expletive],” Bell allegedly said, according to court documents.

The boy’s mother told deputies that the handle of the pan had been bent during the alleged assault.

The boy’s father later took the boy to a doctor, who noted that there were welts on the back of the boy’s head, his neck and shin.

A conviction for felony assault with a weapon is punishable by up to 20 years in Montana State Prison and a fine of up to $50,000.