A Kalispell man who earned a slew of charges in Flathead County District Court after leading police on a chase in January 2024 received a deferred sentence earlier this year.  

Prosecutors initially brought Scott Weslee Hill, 43, up on felony charges of criminal endangerment and threats or improper influence in official or political matters and one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence, first offense, following the Jan. 27 chase through Kalispell. Hill pleaded not guilty at his Feb. 8 arraignment before then Judge Robert Allison.  

But he struck a deal with prosecutors in November of that year. In exchange for pleading guilty to the felony criminal endangerment and misdemeanor drunk driving charge, prosecutors agreed to recommend he receive a deferred six-year sentence for the former.  

Hill entered his guilty plea before Allison on Nov. 24.  

On March 13, Judge Paul Sullivan, who began presiding over the case following Allison's retirement, handed down the deferred six-year sentence for criminal endangerment and a mostly suspended six-month sentence in the county jail for the drunk driving charge. The two were to run concurrently.  

Sullivan also gave Hill credit for 14 days of time served and ordered him to pay $1,600 in court fines and fees.  

Hill's run-in with law enforcement began after a Kalispell Police officer checked in on a man -- later identified as Hill -- slumped over in a vehicle that was parked in the intersection of West Washington Street and Fifth Avenue West North, court documents said. The officer spotted an open Corona beer bottle in the center console and what looked like a bag of marijuana stuffed underneath the console, court documents alleged.  

Hill awoke after a few knocks at the window, but ignored officers' directions. Instead he allegedly honked the horn and raised his middle finger before driving off. Authorities eventually stopped him, but not before he drove at more than twice the posted speed limit, passed vehicles illegally and blew through stop signs, court documents said.  

Hill, who sported watery, bloodshot eyes and swayed during his ensuing conversation with officers, refused to finish field sobriety tests, according to court documents. He allegedly began threatening officers and their families after they secured a warrant for a blood sample. 

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or [email protected].