Man Who Drove Car Through Columbia Falls Grocery Store Pleads Guilty

The man who crashed his car through the front doors and drove around a Columbia Falls grocery store has pleaded guilty to two felony counts in Flathead County District Court.

Alan Roger Connor Jr., 50, appeared in front of Judge Robert Allison Wednesday morning to enter guilty pleas to criminal mischief and criminal endangerment. According to a plea agreement, prosecutors will ask for a pair of concurrent 10-year sentences, while Connor Jr.’s court-appointed attorney, William Managhan, will argue for a 10-year term with five years suspended and a recommendation for drug treatment. Allison will impose his sentence at a hearing on April 8 at 9 a.m. Connor Jr. remains in custody on $150,000 bail.

In the early evening of Nov. 12, shoppers at the Super 1 Foods grocery store in Columbia Falls were sent scrambling when Connor Jr. slammed his Chevrolet Lumina through the glass doors and around the building before leaving the scene. According to court documents, he was naked and running through the snow when he was apprehended by law enforcement later that night, and admitted to consuming “a large quantity of methamphetamine” in the preceding days. Connor Jr. also claimed he was hallucinating and drove into the store in an effort to buy cigarettes for his girlfriend.

No one was injured although the store sustained significant damage. The Super 1 Foods was back open by the following morning.