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Man Who Drove Through Grocery Store Charged With Two Felonies

Alan Roger Connor Jr. told police officers he drove through the store after using ‘a large quantity of methamphetamine’

By Andy Viano
Workers clean up the aisles of Super 1 Foods grocery store in Columbia Falls after a man drove his car through the front doors of the store on Nov. 12, 2020. No one was injured. Hunter D’Antuono | Flathead Beacon

The Columbia Falls man who drove his car through a grocery store last week said he did so in an effort to buy cigarettes for his girlfriend after consuming a large amount of methamphetamine, according to charging documents filed in Flathead County District Court on Monday.

Alan Roger Connor Jr., 50, faces two felony counts, criminal mischief and criminal endangerment, that could result in up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He is being held at the Flathead County Detention Center with his bail set at $150,000. His arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 3 at 1:30 p.m. in front of Judge Robert Allison.

According to court documents, Connor Jr. caused approximately $100,000 in damage to the Super 1 Foods in Columbia Falls on the night of Thursday, Nov. 12 when he plowed his 1995 Chevrolet Lumina through the glass front doors and drove around the building. Connor Jr. then left the scene, crashed the Lumina and went to visit his girlfriend at a nearby assisted-living home.

The girlfriend called the police a short while after Connor Jr. left her room and told dispatchers that Connor Jr. admitted to driving through the store and that he appeared to be under the influence of some substance. Connor Jr. apparently removed his clothes before leaving his girlfriend’s room and was arrested by Columbia Falls police in the snow outside the facility.

In a subsequent interrogation, Connor Jr. “admitted to consuming a large quantity of methamphetamine” in the days before the incident and said that he was suffering from hallucinations in which people were trying to hurt or kill him. That, Connor Jr. told investigators, is why he drove his car through the store in an attempt to buy cigarettes.

No one was injured as a result of Connor Jr.’s actions Thursday and the Super 1 Foods was back open by Friday morning.

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