Powell man arrested after multiple same-day incidents

After a third encounter with law enforcement in the same day, a man allegedly waving an axe at Maverik on Main Street in Lovell and threatening citizens was transported to jail on Wednesday evening on charges of reckless endangerment and interference with a peace officer.

According to Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn, at 2:35 p.m. the sheriff’s office was dispatched to the southwest of Byron, south of Highway 32, for a reported vehicle crash that was caused by someone supposedly shooting at the driver.

Deputies converged and began searching in the area, and since it was south of Highway 32, it was out in the BLM badlands where they did discover a one-vehicle rollover involving a vehicle that appeared to have driven off the roadway, up an embankment and then overcorrected, Blackburn reported.

There were no occupants in the vehicle at the time of arrival, but the oil field workover crew that called in the incident told deputies that they had encountered a man who was armed with a rifle, claiming that someone had shot at him. He wrecked his vehicle and then took off into the badlands.

The deputies began looking in the vicinity. A couple of miles from the scene, they found the subject walking without any weapons, Blackburn said.

“He was not impaired and passed all field sobriety maneuvers,” said Blackburn. “He was checked in the ambulance waiting on Highway 32 and had no injuries and refused medical treatment. He was very cooperative and able to understand and respond to officers’ questions, and other than a violation for careless driving and speed too fast for conditions, he had committed no crimes whatsoever.”

Although Blackburn said that it seemed apparent to the deputies and all personnel that the individual was having some kind of mental/emotional issue, a mental health emergency in and of itself would not be a crime unless it was causing or threatening to cause harm to the subject or others.

“We were required to release him because of the statutes and the Constitution to protect his rights as a citizen,” Blackburn said.

The sheriff’s department gave the man a ride to his residence in Powell, during which time they were informed that the Powell Police Department had had contact with him earlier that same day when he had walked into a house that he used to occupy, but he did peacefully leave that house upon the request of the owners and responding officers.

Then, just before 6 p.m. on Wednesday, the subject returned to Lovell and stopped at Maverik with an axe and allegedly began waving it around in the air in a reckless and threatening manner, according to Blackburn.

“At this point, the situation escalated and he retreated into his parents’ vehicle as deputies and local police officers arrived on scene,” Blackburn said. “Officers tried to talk with him and negotiate him out of the vehicle, but he was noncompliant.”

The officers had probable cause to believe that he had violated the law (reckless endangerment of people’s personal safety), and the decision was made “automatically and appropriately” that he was going to be arrested, Blackburn stated.

“After refusing to comply to unlock his doors and exit the vehicle, officers broke the window of the SUV, and given the fact that he had been armed with a dangerous, deadly weapon, they wisely and correctly used the appropriate level of force and tased the subject to remove him from the vehicle and for everybody’s safety, placed him in handcuffs,” Blackburn explained.

The question that seems to have been on everyone’s mind is, “Why didn’t they just arrest him the first time?”

“I think it is important for people to understand that citizens have rights, and we can’t just pick and choose who to arrest and not,” Blackburn said. “We perform our duties in the most unbiased manner as possible, and that is what happened in this case. 

“I think the larger, more pressing issues in this situation are the mental health emergencies and the gaps in the state statute for taking people in during a mental health crisis. Mental health services were offered both times in Park County and Big Horn County, and unfortunately, it took a serious violation of the law to be able to place this person in custody.”

Jonathan Christian Padilla, 29, of Powell was taken to North Big Horn Hospital to be assessed for injuries and stability before being transported to the Big Horn County detention facility.

Prior to these instances, Padilla had no prior criminal history or record in either Park or Big Horn counties.

“I want to commend the Lovell Police Department, the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Department and Park County law enforcement officers,” Blackburn said. “They all worked together, communicated, and that’s the teamwork that’s really required to accomplish these things.”

Lovell Chief of Police Roger Haney echoed Blackburn’s analysis of the events by saying, “I think the officers and deputies handled it as well as possible, and we are thankful that our departments are able to assist one another in these situations. The outcome was as positive as it could have been with no one being injured, and we were able to protect citizens’ safety.”