No serious injuries as man drives truck into Columbia Falls building
Columbia Falls firefighters look to extricate a man from his truck after he drove into the Gateway Building Monday morning. (Chris Peterson photo)
By CHRIS PETERSON
Hungry Horse News
There were no serious injuries after the driver of a pickup truck accidentally ran into the Gateway Building on Nucleus Avenue about 10:30 a.m. Monday morning.
Acting Columbia Falls Police Chief Brandon Rice said the man appeared to have a medical problem and lost control of his rig. Drugs and alcohol were not factors.
Esthetician Keri Hill, who runs her business in the northwest corner of the building said she narrowly missed being hit by the truck, which went through the wall and window of her business, which is in a daylight lower level. She just happened to be on the other side of the room, but usually works on the side the truck went into, she said.
The driver of the truck was alert and told a man who initially responded that he didn’t know what happened. The truck came down the hill of Nucleus Avenue, crossed the road and went right into the building, which sits at the corner of Nucleus and Highway 2.
Once Columbia Falls firefighters pried the back driver’s side door open with the Jaws of Life, the man, an older male, was able to wiggle out of the truck with some help and walked to the stretcher on his own accord where he was taken to the hospital by Three Rivers Ambulance for further treatment.
He had a cut on his head but appeared to be otherwise OK.
The Gateway Building has several business spaces that people rent, Hill’s being one of them.
City public works crews shut the water off to the building, as it was leaking from the collision.
A restoration company made a temporary repair to the building, which had a gaping hole in it. It took a tow truck a couple of hours to remove the rig from the building.
This story has been updated to reflect the cause of the crash and other details.