A year after crashing his car into two other vehicles on U.S. Highway 2, a Flathead County man has been given 30 days in jail and a five-year suspended sentence to the Montana State Prison.
Joshua Kalib Myers was sentenced on Nov. 23 in Flathead County District Court, nine months after he was charged with felony negligent vehicular assault following a three-vehicle crash near Kalispell.
According to court documents, the Montana Highway Patrol responded to a wreck on U.S. Highway 2 on Nov. 16, 2015. According to witnesses, Myers was driving his vehicle in the lane for oncoming traffic, causing a wreck with two other vehicles.
No one was killed in the wreck, but an occupant in another vehicle suffered from a broken back resulting in partial paralysis.
Law enforcement reported that they spoke with Myers who was slurring his speech and smelled of alcohol. Myers allegedly failed a sobriety test and then refused further testing. When the state trooper requested a blood sample from Myers, the man started to ramble about ISIS and other threats to America.
Later on, the trooper was reviewing his cruiser’s in-car video of the event and found footage of Myers talking to himself. During that incident, Myers allegedly told himself that he was “surprised this has not happened before.” In the video, Myers also admits to consuming numerous alcoholic beverages that night.
Myers initially pleaded not guilty to the charge in March but in September took a plea deal. Prosecutors argued that Myers be given a five-year suspended sentence to the Department of Corrections with a 30-day stint in the Flathead County Detention Center. The defense argued for house arrest along with the suspended sentence so that Myers could continue working in order to pay restitution.
Prior to the sentencing, one of the victims in the case, Tracy Love-Patten, told the court that whatever sentence Myers was given it would pale in comparison to what she has suffered in the last year.
“I have spent the last year paying a physical, financial and emotional prices for his actions,” Love-Patten said.
Just before Judge Robert Allison handed down his sentence, Myers apologized to the victims.
“I am truly sorry and this weighs on my every single day,” he said.