Missoula high-speed pursuit ends with police cruiser crashing into home

A high-speed pursuit down Mary Jane Boulevard in Missoula ended Saturday night with a police cruiser crashing into a house, according to witnesses and the Missoula Police Department.

According to an MPD press release sent on Tuesday afternoon, at about 9:40 p.m. Saturday, an officer saw someone driving extremely recklessly on Reserve near Third Street. When the officer tried to stop the vehicle, the driver accelerated instead, and MPD gave chase in a pursuit.

The vehicle fled north on Reserve, turned west onto England Boulevard and entered a residential neighborhood at a high speed. One of the pursuing vehicles failed to negotiate the turn and crashed into a house at the intersection.

No occupants of the house were injured, MPD said, but the officer involved in the crash was taken to the hospital and later released.

Brenda Maes told the Missoulian on Tuesday that she arrived at the scene of the crash late Saturday night after her daughter, who lives in the home that was damaged, called her.

"My only concern at that point was my granddaughter," Maes said.

The cruiser impacted the wall of her granddaughter's bedroom, Maes said, leaving the wall broken, furniture overturned, and the toddler covered in plaster dust but unharmed.

"It was bad, but it could have been so much worse," Maes said. "The house was knocked off its foundation."

Maes said that her daughter's family is currently living with her, as the house was rendered unlivable by the accident because a water line was broken.

This is the second high-speed pursuit crash to happen in the area in the past two months.

On April 8, a multi-agency task force tried to intercept Wynton Magee on drug charges on Interstate 90. That attempt turned into a high-speed chase that MPD joined when it came into city limits. The chase ended when a Missoula County sheriff's deputy car rammed into Magee's vehicle to stop him. Magee's car then went into a residential yard at the 3900 block of England Boulevard, hitting the corner of a house and an adjoining fence, according to documents.

That crash took place a few blocks away from Saturday's crash.

Some nearby residents the Missoulian spoke with Tuesday blamed recent road configuration changes in the neighborhood for an increased prevalence of traffic and speeding. In 2022 and 2023, an infrastructure project turned Mary Jane Boulevard from an isolated residential street to a thoroughfare connecting West Broadway and Mullan Road.

"It's a shortcut around Reserve Street for people now," said Josiah Hodge, a resident of the neighborhood.

Hodge said he sees people regularly speeding and driving unsafely down Mary Jane Boulevard.

"The traffic's been awful," said Deb Veroulis, a Mary Jane Boulevard resident of three years. "I'm frustrated that a residential street with a park and children and families and pets has been made into a main thoroughfare."

"It's a huge problem," Tuff Toldness, another resident of the street, said. "It's not speeding as much as it is the noise."

Toldness reported hearing Saturday's crash from his living room, where he was watching TV. He then said he saw about 20 police cars respond to the scene, and saw the cruiser, which had caved the house's wall in about 2 feet, he said.

According to the MPD release, the vehicle was located shortly later, but the driver had fled. The vehicle was found to have been stolen, and the suspect has not been apprehended.

Montana Highway Patrol investigated the crash, and there is an internal review process ongoing.