A Billings family is speaking out after a 15-year-old boy was allegedly struck repeatedly by a golf cart operated by a worker at Lake Hills Golf Course on July 4, in an incident the family says left the teenager shaken and injured.
The boy was playing golf for the first time, part of a group of 10 family members out for a holiday round, when the alleged confrontation occurred. According to the family's account, a course employee drove a cart into the teenager more than once. The family has not described what prompted the encounter. Lake Hills Golf Course is a public course operated within the Billings city park system.
The family has gone public with the allegations and is calling for accountability from the course and the city. No arrest had been reported as of available coverage, and it was not clear whether Billings police had opened a formal investigation or whether the course employee remained on the job.
While the incident occurred in Billings, it is the type of public-facility dispute that resonates in Helena, where Bill Roberts Golf Course — operated through the city's parks department — serves a similar community role. Questions about how municipal golf courses handle employee conduct and patron safety are relevant to any city that runs recreational facilities open to the public.