When rangers caught up to him, he pretended to be a U.S. marshal and said he needed the truck to get to his headquarters, according to a criminal complaint.
The event started Saturday, Aug. 10, when a drunk named Bowling was unable to buy beer at the Old Faithful General Store because his credit cards declined, the document said. Bowling left, climbed into a Yellowstone Park Service Station heavy wrecker — also known as a tow truck — and drove off, officials said. “The suspect is not an employee of YPSS and had no authority to take the vehicle,” according to officials.
Bowling plowed through a large wooden fence in the truck and drove it along the public side of the geyser before turning around near the Old Faithful Lodge, the document said. He’s then accused of driving the wrong way down a one-way road before bailing off the roadway and stopping in a field near the post office and ranger station.
Bowling got out and started running through trees as a pair of rangers followed him, officials said. He crossed a road before another pair of rangers stopped him behind a bus barn east of the Old Faithful government area.
Rangers ordered him to the ground and handcuffed him, according to officials, and found his wallet with his Virginia driver’s license inside. A ranger asked him to identify himself. He answered: “Nathan Patterson, undisclosed United States marshal,” the document states. When asked why he stole the tow truck, he’s accused of answering, “I needed the truck to get to the United States Marshal’s headquarters.”
Bowling reeked of booze as rangers led him to a patrol car, the document said. He was taken to the Mammoth Jail, where he’s accused of refusing to give a breath sample or perform sobriety tests. Federal officials sought a blood warrant to confirm his intoxication. Investigators determined the tow truck was nearly 200 feet from the road after plowing through the sturdy wooden fence. Bowling faces several criminal charges in the incident, including DUI, refusing sobriety tests, interfering with a government employee, destruction of federal property, disorderly conduct, off-road operation of a motor vehicle and reckless driving.
He faces up to 4.5 years in jail and $45,000 in fines if convicted.
I hope that when he is released from the clink that the prison supervisor give shim his belongings, one-hundred dollars, and a mug that says, "I visited Old Faithful."
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