BILLINGS — A Billings couple is searching for answers after they say the husband was hit by a car in the Heights Walmart parking lot, and the driver then fled the scene.
“I was just like; did that really just happen? Did I just get hit by a car?” said the husband Don Ewald on Monday.
On Jan. 21, Ewald and his wife, Alivia Snyder, were finished purchasing groceries and left the store to head to their car, not knowing what the next few minutes would bring.
“I noticed at the last second, she clicked on her reverse lights and my husband was on the right side of me and his right side is what got hit completely, his arm and everything. And she hit the cart first and did not stop,” Snyder said. “That’s my initial thought is, is my husband okay?”
According to the couple, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time: walking straight into the path of someone allegedly trying to get away after shoplifting.
“It was pretty fast. She slammed on that gas it was so fast,” Snyder said.
Ewald and Snyder said they saw a woman wrapped in a blanket inside the store being followed by undercover employees. They said that the woman caused a commotion near the cash registers and then left closely behind the couple, getting into the passenger seat of the vehicle that allegedly hit Ewald.
MTN News has not confirmed if the person who got into the passenger seat was shoplifting.
“My wife goes in front of the car to kind of keep her planted and she starts driving off and tries hitting my wife,” Ewald said. “It was an older, I believe... gal (driving). Probably mid to late 30s.”
Snyder was able to step out of the way, narrowly missing being hit, and the couple called the Billings police.
According to police, officers have not located the vehicle or driver. So, the couple is now asking the community to help keep an eye out for the vehicle involved.
Ewald said he went to the hospital after suffering minor injuries to his arm and stomach, but he should make a full recovery.
