Ride Guy driver charged with assault in pepper spray incident
The man who founded the Ride Guy free taxi service in Whitefish is facing his fourth assault charge in 13 years.
In information filed in Flathead District Court on April 8, Brian Murchie is charged with one count of felony assault with a weapon and faces up to 20 years and/or a $50,000 fine if convicted.
According to the filing, Whitefish police received a call about an assault near the intersection of Railroad Street and Central Avenue on Jan. 24 at 1:13 a.m.
A man told police he had stepped out of the Craggy Range restaurant and was taking a cell phone picture of his girlfriend when Murchie allegedly grabbed the cell phone, forced the man to the ground and sprayed pepper spray in the man’s face.
When questioned about the incident, Murchie allegedly told an officer he felt threatened by the man so he sprayed him. The officer allegedly found Murchie in possession of the man’s cell phone.
According to the Jan. 24 Whitefish police log, Murchie called to report that he was attacked by a male suspect. Murchie told dispatch he was walking up to three people who wanted a taxi ride when the male suspect pointed something at him. When Murchie put his hand up, the male suspect grabbed him, he reported. Murchie said he then used his pepper spray on the male suspect.
Thirteen years ago, Murchie was charged with second-degree assault following an incident in the parking lot of a north Spokane, Wash. tavern on Feb. 22, 2002. Murchie allegedly cracked a man’s skull with a foot-long metal flashlight after the man wouldn’t pay attention to Murchie’s gag ID card.
Murchie appealed his lower court conviction in that felony assault and lost in the Court of Appeals of Washington Division Three. He later moved to Montana.
On Jan. 31, 2009, Murchie was arrested outside the Great Northern Bar in Whitefish following an assault on four women in the saloon. According to a police report, two of the women had been bitten on the mouth and were transported to North Valley Hospital. One woman was vomiting and bleeding extensively, the report stated.
Murchie pleaded guilty in Whitefish Municipal Court to one of the four misdemeanor assault counts on Sept. 8, 2009, and the other three counts were dismissed. He paid a $500 fine. Restitution was waived, and he served no jail time. He was arrested about a year later and charged with contempt of court for failing to pay the $500 fine. He appeared in court and paid the fine.
On Sept. 2, 2010, Murchie appeared in Flathead County Justice Court on a fugitive from justice warrant out of Spokane. The warrant was recalled 15 days later, and the charge was dismissed a week after that when Murchie assured the court he was paying his fines.
In February 2011, Murchie received a one-year deferred sentence for a single misdemeanor charge of partner-family member assault in Whitefish Municipal Court. About the same time, another misdemeanor charge of partner-family member assault in Kalispell was dismissed by the city prosecutor in Kalispell.
The Ride Guy taxi service took a prominent role in the downtown Whitefish bar scene after the Whitefish Taxi shut down in July 2009. The business does not operate with a permit from the Montana Public Service Commission because they take no money for their services — they don’t charge customers for a ride and don’t accept tips.
Police officials and some bar owners have supported the free taxi service because it performs a community service by transporting drunken bar patrons to their homes, keeping some drunk drivers off the roads.