Ashley Wallace was enjoying a drink last Friday at the American Legion bar in downtown Bozeman when her night took an unexpected turn, landing her in the hospital.
“For all of it to happen the way it happened, I don't understand, how anybody could do that to someone,” she says.
Ashley grew up in the Bozeman and Livingston areas. Her family has a fourth-generation ranch here. She tells me she’s always felt safe in Bozeman, until last Friday.
“We were not even in there for probably five minutes, maybe?” says Ashley.
After getting dinner, one of Ashley’s friends wanted to grab a drink at the American Legion.
“There was an empty barstool. When there’s an empty stool and there's only one, my friends usually let me take it, which is really nice," she explained; Ashley has pre-existing medical conditions and is still recovering from getting hit by a semi-truck in 2014.
Ashley tells me the next thing she remembers after sitting on the bar stool: “I get shoved back, and I hit the ground. And my friends get me up pretty quickly. But as I'm up, really fast I get shoved down again."
Leaving her with bruises, broken nails, and a concussion.
I called the American Legion, who confirmed the altercation that night, but the employee I spoke to said his bouncers and bartenders resolved the situation within 10 seconds.
Ashley tells me what she remembers is still giving her nightmares.
“All I remember was looking as straight as I could and the shorter guy, he said to touch me. And that's when I felt somebody move my underwear,” she says.
Ashley said after the incident, she immediately called the police, but almost a week later, she’s still fighting to press charges.
The Bozeman Police Department declined to discuss this case with me, but I did learn from Patrol Captain Hal Richardson that downtown is “perpetually active, particularly during events and weekends” and their “patrols are heavily focused around Main Street."
Richardson tells me when police respond to altercations downtown, their first step is to break up the fight. Then they gather as much information from those involved, as well as witnesses, to decide if any citations or arrests should be made.
He tells me police want to prevent incidents like Ashley’s from occurring, so there is a high likelihood someone could be cited, but police require probable cause.
Ashley says, “The fact that all we’re asking for is for them to be questioned and held accountable, it’s pretty crazy to me that we’re fighting this hard. And people, women, anybody, shouldn't go through something like this."
