Sirens (Photo: FILE) 
 
 A wild street brawl at the center of Big Sandy's small commercial district ended Monday with only minor injuries, but left many in the quiet farming town shocked by the sudden melee — which included a chain saw-wielding would-be assailant, a knife fight and ended with a stolen car racing out of town. 
 
 "You could hear the chain saw and you could hear people screaming at each other," said Drew Page, who was working at a downtown business when the fight broke out. "It pulled everybody out of their businesses. People were looking up and down the street to see what was happening." 
 
 The brawl began when a four-door sedan carrying three men and a pickup carrying two men and two women rolled into the town of about 600 residents from off U.S. Highway 87. According to Chouteau County Sheriff Vern Burdick, none of the seven people involved live in Big Sandy — or even surrounding Chouteau County. 
 
 "From what we've been able to gather, the initial dispute actually took place on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, and the pickup gave chase to the sedan," Burdick said. 
 
 “All the doors were flying open and people were getting out and running around and hitting each other.” Cherie Stiles, Bear Paw Coffee Shop and Deli 
 
 Shortly after 2 p.m., the three men in the sedan pulled up into a parking space in front of the Bear Paw Coffee Shop and Deli on Johannas Avenue. Just a few seconds later, the pickup pulled in directly behind the sedan, partially blocking the east-bound lane through Big Sandy. 
 
 "All the doors were flying open and people were getting out and running around and hitting each other," said Cherie Stiles, one of the owners of the Bear Paw Coffee Shop and Deli. 
 
 The shouting, screaming and general commotion quickly drew the attention of anyone within earshot of the fracas. Dozens of people witnessed the fight, either standing outside on the sidewalk or through storefront windows. 
 
 "The street was lined with people," said Jody Thornton, who was at her desk at the Sheehy Law Office when the commotion started 
 
 At one point, one of the men from the pickup grabbed a chain saw, fired it up and raced forward into the center of the fight. 
 
 "He was swinging it around, and they all were scattering," Thornton said. 
 
 According to Burdick, the chain saw incident lasted only a few seconds. 
 
 "The chain saw did not injure anybody," the sheriff said. "It was quickly shut down and thrown back into the pickup." 
 
 At this point at least one of the pickup's occupants got into the sedan, backed the car out into the street and raced out of town. The remaining occupants of the pickup followed behind, leaving the three men who had driven the sedan into Big Sandy without a ride. One of them had a knife wound to his lower abdomen. 
 
 "It was superficial, nonlife-threatening," Burdick said of the unidentified man's wound. "He was treated at Big Sandy Medical Center and released back into our custody." 
 
 “The chain saw did not injure anybody. It was quickly shut down and thrown back into the pickup.” Vern Burdick, sheriff 
 
 Several bystanders witnessed one of the men take the knife used during the fight and throw it behind Pep's Bar and Lanes - a restaurant/bar/bowling alley on the corner of 1st Street and Johannas Ave. Police later retrieved the weapon. 
 
 The whole confrontation lasted just minutes. Immediately afterward, a Chouteau County deputy arrived and began taking witness statements. He'd been en route even before calls began pouring in reporting the street brawl. 
 
 "He was already working on a traffic complaint that had come in with these same two vehicles," Burdick said. "We had received a traffic complaint about two vehicles on U.S. 87 traveling southbound out of Box Elder heading toward Big Sandy, and he was actively going after them." 
 
 The sedan was later found parked on the side of Highway 87 a short distance north of Big Sandy. 
 
 "The car has been impounded, and currently there's a search warrant being drafted so we can search it," Burdick said Tuesday afternoon. 
 
 Burkdick said that all seven people involved in the Monday brawl have been identified, and four have been cited. 
 
 "There were four citations issued for disorderly conduct to the folks who were physically involved," he said. They are low-keyed citations at this time, but as we pursue and finish this case up there's going to be some more serious charges brought forth. The person that did take the car back out of Big Sandy flat disappeared, but we do have his name." 
 
 Burdick was not prepared to divulge any information as to what may have motivated the fight, noting that the incident was subject to an ongoing criminal investigation. 
 
 "I can't speak to that," he responded. "We're getting into the crux of the case right there, and when it comes to their mind set or the cause of the fight itself — we are hoping to determine that at the end of the investigation. Let's just say that what the public witnessed and what actually took place is a bit skewed. That's part of the investigation that we are vetting out." 
 
 Residents in Big Sandy are just grateful it ended without anybody being seriously injured. 
 
 "I was really glad school wasn't out at the time, and there were no kids walking around down Main Street," Stiles said. "We were lucky in a lot of ways." 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://gftrib.com/1belNOz ||||| GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — The quiet of Big Sandy's block-long commercial district was disrupted one afternoon this week when two vehicles sped into town and their seven occupants got out and began fighting. 
 
 The brawl began when three men in a car pulled up in front of a coffee shop shortly after 2 p.m. Monday, and a pickup carrying two men and two women stopped behind them, Chouteau County Sheriff Vern Burdick said. 
 
 "From what we've been able to gather, the initial dispute actually took place on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, and the pickup gave chase to the sedan," Burdick told the Great Falls Tribune (http://gftrib.com/1F1aGER ). 
 
 The parties began fighting in the street. 
 
 "All the doors were flying open, and people were getting out and running around and hitting each other," said Cherie Stiles, one of the owners of the Bear Paw Coffee Shop and Deli. 
 
 The commotion quickly drew the attention of those in the area. 
 
 "The street was lined with people," said Jody Thornton, who was working at Sheehy Law Office. 
 
 At one point, one of the men in the pickup fired up a chain saw and began swinging it around. The man soon turned it off, and no one was injured, Burdick said. 
 
 One of the people in the pickup fled the farming town of 600 in the car, and three others got in the pickup, stranding three men. One had a superficial stab wound. 
 
 The car was found just north of Big Sandy and impounded. 
 
 All seven of those involved have been identified, and four have been cited for disorderly conduct, Burdick said. There will be more charges, he said. 
 
 Burdick did not say what might have prompted the fight and did not release the names of those involved. They did not live in the county, he said. 
 
 Stiles said she was relieved the disruption didn't happen an hour later. 
 
 "I was really glad school wasn't out at the time, and there were no kids walking around down Main Street," Stiles said. "We were lucky in a lot of ways." 
 
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 Information from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com
– When Big Sandy, Mont., has a street fight, it has a street fight. Residents in the farming town's commercial district watched Monday as a brawl broke out between three men in a sedan and two men and two women in a pickup truck—complete with a knife fight, at least one chainsaw-wielding suspect, and one of the pickup passengers capping off the incident by driving away in the sedan, the Great Falls Tribune reports. Chouteau County Sheriff Vern Burdick says the two vehicles pulled into town around 2pm, with the pickup apparently chasing the sedan after a previous dispute. "All the doors were flying open and people were getting out and running around and hitting each other," says a local deli owner. That level of chaos obviously wasn't enough for one of the pickup suspects, because he reportedly went back to the truck, pulled out a chainsaw, and revved it up. "He was swinging it around, and they all were scattering," a law office worker tells the Tribune. Burdick notes that the chainsaw was turned off almost as soon as it was turned on and tossed back in the truck, and while one of the men in the sedan suffered a knife wound in his abdomen, it was "superficial." All seven suspects have been identified and four cited for disorderly conduct, reports AP, though more serious charges may follow. (A mother-son duo was accused of stealing $10,000 worth of chainsaws.)