BILLINGS — A Wyoming woman and her daughter were caught in the midst of a vehicle collision Monday, when a pick-up truck reversed directly into their hotel room.
They were staying at the Days Inn in Billings when the incident happened around 1 a.m.
"There was a woman sleeping in the bed right next to the window... She said she got woken up to the bed moving and being covered in glass. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt at all. She wasn't cut at all. She didn't get hit by the truck," said Jasmine Hintz, the manager at the Days Inn and Super 8.
Hintz wasn't at the hotel at 843 Parkway Lane when the incident happened, but she arrived shortly after.
Hintz says the crash happened after a political-canvassing group staying at the hotel had been causing problems. The group was throwing a party, and when asked to move locations by hotel staff, one of the canvassers accidentally reversed their truck into the hotel room.
When the suspect tried to drive forward, they accidentally reversed again.
"It was a large group of them. (The) same night I found one of them sleeping in our fitness center. There was one sleeping in a cart room. We just had nothing but issues with this group the whole time they were here," Hintz said.
Billings Police Department found the truck abandoned a short time later, but the woman has not been found. Police are investigating, and they have not identfied which political organization the canvassers were affiliated with.
"(The truck) just destroyed everything in its path," said Hintz.
The incident came just three weeks after a car put a hole through Juro's Pharmacy in Billings.
"We stayed open from day one, even though it was kind of a complete disaster," said Mike Jurovich, one of the owners and pharmacists at Juro's Pharmacy.
On Oct. 1, a driver experienced a medical emergency and crashed into the front of the pharmacy. Juovich and his brother Daniel are planning for rebuilding to take some time.
"It's going to take a while, and then winter's of course coming. So that's always a concern," Jurovich said.
As far as Monday's incident, Days Inn is still working on figuring out the next steps.
"We have a company coming tomorrow that is going to put boards on the outside, so it's a little more secure, and maybe looks a little better than this," Hintz said.
