By AP News, 12-18-09
A bartender who served a drunken driver who was responsible for a head-on crash near Somers that killed a Montana Highway Patrol trooper has pleaded not guilty to several misdemeanors.
Flathead County prosecutors say 31-year-old Nathan Hale is charged with negligent endangerment, selling alcohol after hours and selling alcohol to an intoxicated customer. He is accused of serving 29-year-old fellow employee Travis Vandersloot at a Bigfork bowling alley before Vandersloot crashed his vehicle into trooper Michael Haynes' patrol car on U.S. Highway 93.
Vandersloot, of Columbia Falls, and the trooper were killed in the March 27 crash.
Also charged is 40-year-old Diane Pickavance, who has not yet appeared on a charge of selling alcohol after hours.
The 28-year-old Haynes left behind a wife and two young children.
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