Man given suspended sentence in 2022 back behind bars for alleged knife attack

A Kalispell man sentenced last year for spitting on a police officer is back behind bars after allegedly attacking a person at a gas station earlier this month.

Robert Eugene McCarty, 36, faces a felony assault with a weapon charge in Flathead County District Court following the alleged April 17 confrontation at the North Meridian Road business. He remains in county jail with bail set at $70,000.

The victim in the alleged attack told Kalispell Police officers that McCarty provoked the disagreement by gesturing with his middle finger at his wife while the couple was at the gas station, according to court documents. When the victim confronted McCarty, the 36-year-old told him to “mind his own business,” court documents said.

McCarty then allegedly came closer, prompting the victim to push him away. Following the shove, McCarty pulled out a small knife and the victim picked up a sign to use as a shield, court documents said.

Pinning the victim between the sign and an ATM, McCarty slashed at him with the blade, according to court documents. The victim suffered two cuts in the scuffle before McCarty allegedly fled, court documents said.

Interviewed later by officers, McCarty said the victim confronted him unprovoked, threw him to the ground and held him there, according to court documents.

Assault with a weapon carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in state prison and a $50,000 fine. A bail modification hearing in the case is scheduled for April 27, the same day as his arraignment, before Judge Amy Eddy.

McCarty received a pair of suspended sentences on Nov. 11, 2022 after pleading guilty to felony criminal endangerment and misdemeanor assault with a bodily fluid. In that case, McCarty allegedly stole wine from an area supermarket in July of that year, struggled with store employees and then spat on the Kalispell Police officers who arrested him.

At his Sept. 20, 2022 change of plea hearing, McCarty described the charges as a wake up call.

Eddy, who presided over that case as well, held to the terms of the plea agreement McCarty struck with prosecutors and gave him a suspended five-year sentence with the state Department of Corrections for the felony and a suspended one-year sentence in the county jail for the misdemeanor. The two were to run concurrently.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.