BUTTE — An apartment building in Butte was heavily damaged after being hit by a vehicle, and it’s upended the lives of the tenants living here who are now forced to find new places to live.
“I don’t have a place to sleep, I don’t have a place to shower—you know, like pretty much every inconvenience possible. I mean, like, I’m glad I still have my car. Now I’m like kind of homeless at the moment,” said tenant Justin Norine.
Justin lives in the apartment complex with his girlfriend at 1025 E. Front Street.
The building was hit by a vehicle on September 22 and caused heavy damage to the foundation.
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The building has been deemed structurally unsafe and the property manager has given all four tenants notice to be out in 30 days.
“The market's tough, we got to find a place we can afford, you know, a place that will allow us to have a pet and things aren’t easy,” said Norine.
Tenants have renters’ insurance, but the sudden change is still a burden.
“You know, we’re just trying to get by, we’re living paycheck to paycheck and something bad happens and causes four people to be out on their butts,” he said.
I tried to contact the building’s landlord, Centana Property Management, for comment on this situation but did not receive a response.
Police say a 60-year-old Butte man was driving the car that crashed into the building and remains hospitalized with injuries. The incident remains under investigation. Police suspect alcohol and speed were factors in the crash.
“Not going to be too hard on him, but I did read there could have been alcohol involved and he was going way too fast. I mean, it was irresponsible all around,” said Norine.
(SEPTEMBER 26, 2024) Butte police suspect that alcohol was involved on Sunday, September 22, 2024, when a car crashed into an apartment building.
A 60-year-old Butte man was hospitalized with serious injuries after he crashed a car into a building at Front and Oregon streets about 5:30 p.m.
Emergency responders had to use "jaws of life' to remove the trapped driver.
The car had been speeding north on Harrison Avenue when it lost control on a curve onto Front Street before slamming into the building.
One resident was in the building at the time of the crash.
“It sounded really like a bomb going off. It sounded like a hand grenade or like a decent-sized bomb going off on the side of my house. I’m going to be realistic, that's kind of what it sounded like. It also seemed like that because there was dust and everything all over the place. It really seemed like a bomb went off,” said Devon Martin, a resident at the apartment building.
The driver has since been taken to a medical facility in another city for further treatment.
