At Columbia Falls Pizza Hut, moms grateful truck that wrecked didn't go through window

No one was injured when a dark red Ford F-150 pickup truck with a topper ended up on the sidewalk and bushes at Pizza Hut Wednesday afternoon, narrowly missing the building after the gas pedal apparently stuck on the rig. 

No alcohol, drugs or mental illness were factors in the crash, according to Columbia Falls Police on the scene. 

Witnesses watched the driver, whose name was not immediately available, pull into a parking spot slowly and then suddenly shoot forward, police said.

“He wasn’t speeding,” Sgt. Sean Murphy said. 

No tickets were issued. 

The vehicle hit a garbage can and the entryway to the pizza place before veering to the left and coming to a rest inches away from the restaurant’s window.

Two women were sitting with their babies at a booth next to the window where the truck’s ended up.

“I had a panic attack right when it happened,” Sarah Mitchell said. She was with her 2-month old daughter Thia visiting a friend, Cami Spencer, who she hadn’t seen since high school.

Spencer was sitting on the side of the table with a view of the entryway.

“I saw him accelerate,” she said. “We just ran.”

Mitchell said she saw the light shining on her friend’s eyes just right before hearing a sound of the vehicle crashing.

They shielded their daughters and ran away from the window. They said they are thankful the window didn’t break and that everyone is OK.

Pizza Hut assistant manager Jess Skare was in the back of the restaurant when she heard the crash. She said she ran outside because she thought the driver had a heart attack. The gas pedal got stuck and somehow he got the vehicle stopped before it went through the glass, Skare said.

The driver comes into the store every day and always parks in the same spot, Skare said.

Pizza Hut shift manager Crystal Bowden, who is pregnant, was helping a customer at a booth next to Spencer and Mitchell, when the accident happened.

“It was scary,” Bowden said. She thought for sure it would put her into labor, but it didn’t. Her doctor told her this morning that her baby was ready to come.