Killer who drove over, fatally stabbed Fort Worth man gets 35 years

A 20-year-old man who drove over a stranger in a city park and then repeatedly stabbed the man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

In a plea agreement reached with Tarrant County prosecutors, Garland Patton of Fort Worth pleaded guilty to a murder charge and accepted the sentence on May 5, court records show.

Patton killed Samuel Bailey, 54, of Fort Worth, on May 17, 2015, at Krauss-Baker Park in the Wedgwood area. The men did not know each other, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Witnesses told police that a man in a white Pontiac drove over Bailey. A few hours later, a patrol officer at the park saw the vehicle drive past, and Patton was pulled over and arrested.

The affidavit includes this account:

Two witnesses told police they were at a pavilion in the park in the 3500 block of Park Lake Drive on the night of May 17, 2015, when a man drove up and got out of a white Pontiac. The man, later identified as Patton, walked up to the pavilion, sat down and later pulled out a knife.

The witnesses became nervous and walked away from Patton, who eventually got back in his car and drove away. The witnesses returned to the pavilion, but a few minutes later Patton drove up and got out of his car. By that time, Bailey was walking in the park.

Some type of altercation erupted between Bailey and Patton, police said. According to the affidavit, Patton got in his car, jumped a curb and ran over Bailey. Patton stopped the car and got out, and the witnesses said he appeared to be beating Bailey. The witnesses got in their car and called 911.

Detectives later determined that Patton was not beating Bailey, but was instead repeatedly stabbing him.

An electrical worker, Bailey was married and a 16-year member of the North Richland Hills Baptist Church. He was married in the church in 2003. The couple did not have any children, a church official said.

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 12:07 PM with the headline "Killer who drove over, fatally stabbed Fort Worth man gets 35 years."