Driver in 2023 North Kalispell police chase given four-year sentence

A Trout Creek man who launched his pickup truck off a mound in the middle of a Kalispell roundabout in 2023 was later sentenced to the Montana Department of Corrections.  

James William Hill, 50, pleaded not guilty to a felony count of criminal endangerment at his December 2023 arraignment in Flathead County District Court. But he changed his tune in February 2024, inking a deal with prosecutors that saw him change his plea to guilty.  

In exchange, prosecutors agreed to recommend he serve four years with the state Department of Corrections to run consecutively with a four-year sentence in a reopened 2014 case. 

At Hill's Feb. 22, 2024 sentencing, Judge Dan Wilson stuck to the terms of the agreement and gave Hill credit for 86 days of time served.  

Hill sparked a police pursuit on Nov. 28, 2023 after fleeing a traffic stop on West Reserve Drive, according to court documents. Hill allegedly drove at speeds between 30 and 80 mph during the chase, ran several stop signs and crashed through wooden fences near Glacier High School before launching off a gravel mound inside the roundabout at the intersection of Old Reserve and Stillwater Road.  

Officers estimated Hill's pickup traveled about 115 feet through the air after launching off the mound.  

Landing, the damaged truck jumped a concrete central divider and struck a wooden sign and a yellow delineator, court documents said. Hill surrendered after the pickup came to a stop. 

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