Charges filed in machete case

Four felony charges have been filed against the 51-year-old Columbia Falls man accused of wielding a knife and a machete in the Nite Owl restaurant on Sept. 10.

Carlos Seeley was charged with assault with a weapon, assault on a peace officer, intimidation and attempted aggravated assault. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years and a $50,000 fine for the most significant charges.

He is currently being held in the Flathead County Detention Center.

Three eyewitness accounts were filed in the charging papers, including an interview with Columbia Falls Det. Steve Hughes, who responded to the incident and arrested Seeley.

One eyewitness is a retired Michigan state trooper and retired federal agent from the departments of Homeland Security and Justice who was eating in the restaurant at the time. The man said a waitress at the cash register tried to reason with Seeley after he pulled a knife and a machete and started hassling a patron who was sitting at the counter. He also said Seeley had a cane hooked around his own neck.

The eyewitness said that when Hughes arrived, the detective immediately ordered Seeley three times to put his weapons down. Hughes continued advancing toward Seeley and then fired his Taser from about 10 feet away but Seeley didn't flinch, the man said. Hughes then warned Seeley if he didn't drop the weapons, "I will shoot you."

Hughes then tried to grab Seeley with his left hand while striking him over the head with his right, the man said, at which point a gun went off and the two ended up on the ground. The eyewitness said he moved tables out of the way as Hughes handcuffed Seeley. The man said he thought Seeley was "distraught" but still a threat to patrons and Hughes.

A second eyewitness is the waitress at the cash register who tried to talk Seeley down. She said Seeley appeared fine during his dinner and thankful for the service. She went to the cash register after another waitress left when Seeley pulled out a knife and said he was "going to take over the place."

When Seeley began to hassle a patron at the counter, the waitress told him nobody in the restaurant had a problem with him. She asked him if he was having a bad day, and Seeley said he was. When she told him law enforcement was coming, Seeley said he would take it up with them.

In the waitress's account, the Taser dart fired by Hughes hit Seeley in the finger but had no effect. She also said that as Hughes closed in, Seeley used his cane to hook the detective around the neck and pull him in.

According to Hughes, he never saw Seeley wielding a machete, but he saw something protruding out of a bulge in the back of Seeley's shirt. Hughes said he grabbed for the hand holding the knife while striking Seeley over the head with his .45-caliber service revolver.

Hughes told investigators that he believed Seeley was advancing toward the casino area, where he could endanger patrons there. When Hughes' gun discharged, the bullet went up, striking a panel-covered beam, ricocheted down and through the door to the women's restroom, and ended up in the back wall of the restroom.

A public defender was assigned to Seeley, and his arraignment is set for Oct. 20.

According to Columbia Falls Police Chief Dave Perry, the Flathead County Attorney's Office reviewed the case and decided that Hughes "used reasonable and necessary force" in arresting Seeley.