A 15-year-old boy alleges a worker at Lake Hills Golf Course in Billings rammed him repeatedly with a golf cart on the Fourth of July, and his family is now speaking out about the incident.
Watch golf course incident allegations here:
The boy was playing golf for the first time with a group of 10 family members and friends.
The group quit after the fifth hole because of the heat, and that's when they realized the teenager had lost some money.
He went back to look for it.
Brianna Old Elk, the boy's cousin, says he had taken off his shirt in the heat.
Someone with the golf course allegedly told him to put it back on, and things allegedly escalated.
"Not too long after that, we get a call from him, and he's crying," said Old Elk. "And he's saying, this old guy, he hit me with his cart."
A couple walking through the area posted on Facebook, having seen the young man followed by the golf cart and yelling that he had been hit.
Old Elk says her cousin told her the employee hit him multiple times with the cart, and there was more.
"He pulled his braid, pulled his hair," Old Elk said. "You could see that his hair was all messy. He grabbed his hair. His earring was gone."
"For a young kid to be assaulted by a grown man for no reason and you know it's pretty traumatic," said Janet, who asked to not to use her last name.
Old Elk says she went to the pro shop, where she was able to confirm the man was in management at the golf course.
"And then I said, oh, you guys know who it is who hit him," Old Elk said. "And the guy said, yeah."
She then contacted Billings police.
Police confirmed to MTN that they responded to an incident at the course Saturday and provided a statement reading in part: "Once the investigation is complete, the case will be forwarded to the appropriate prosecuting authority. If probable cause is established, appropriate charges will be pursued."
"I was really brokenhearted for him," Old Elk said.
Janet described what the day was supposed to be.
"We're just having a nice barbecue," Janet said. "I had lots of friends over. Many of us are first-time golfers."
MTN went to the clubhouse asking for the man the family alleges ran the cart into the boy, and was told that man was not working Monday, and no one else was available to speak.
MTN is not identifying the employee at this time because no charges have been filed.
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