BILLINGS — A woman in the Billings Heights is recovering after her DoorDash driver attacked her Thursday night.
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Thursday, Feb. 13 was a day Starr Mason would never forget. Mason's oldest daughter was in labor, ready to deliver the family's first grandchild.
"This is my first grandbaby like this is a big deal for me," Mason told MTN Friday over a voice interview.
It was just a few hours later when Mason's biggest nightmare would unfold.
After being awake for nearly 24 hours, Mason decided to DoorDash something for dinner.
From a Billings restaurant, Mason ordered a chicken sandwich, a bag of chips, and a huckleberry drink. After a few moments of placing that initial order, Mason added a small side of soup. Because of that, two Dashers were assigned to the order.
At this time, Mason's husband, Charles, was at the movie theater with their youngest son.
Mason says the first driver took over an hour to deliver that food, with most of the time spent in the Applebee's parking lot, according to the driver's location.
Eventually, the second delivery driver, who requested to remain anonymous, showed up at the restaurant. Mason received a call from the restaurant saying that because she had not received her order yet, they would remake it.
Both drivers arrived at Mason's house around the same time. The first driver's delivery had been tampered with, Mason says.
"My entire bag has been, it (doesn't) look like it's been ripped, it looks like it's been cut... with scissors... I can't tell if he said, 'I opened it to check,' or if he said, 'I didn't open it,'" she said.
Because of the delayed delivery, the tampered food, and the fact that the driver ignored Mason's phone calls while in the Applebee's parking lot, Mason did not want to tip him. A confrontation broke out between this delivery driver and Mason.
However, Mason eventually decided to tip both the first and second driver. She told them both to, "have a good night," before closing the door.
That was when the first driver attacked Mason, she says.
"He stopped me from shutting the door... He hit, like he hit with so much force, the only thing that makes sense to me, how he got me down as hard as he did, was that his hand was in on the other side, and he pushed with both hands," she said.
The driver pushed the door and Mason's shoulders, forcing her to fall backward. With the door slamming against her face, and the fall, she ended up hurting her spine, hips, waist, shoulders, and jaw.
In the incident, Mason spilled the hot soup, food, and drinks all over herself.
Mason said the driver then entered her home and shouted, "You got what you deserved," before fleeing the scene.
Mason says the last few years she's battled several health issues, having to go to the hospital over 30 times last year to get blood transfusions. She has a life-saving surgery coming up in March. Because of her poor health, Mason was unable to defend herself.
"I just didn't have it in me to fight, and I tried. I tried to get the door closed," she said.
Mason spent over four hours at the St. Vincent Regional Hospital emergency room Thursday night after the incident.
MTN reached out to DoorDash about the situation. A representative, Julian Crowley, sent MTN a statement on Saturday:
"This is an utterly sickening and shocking attack that warrants the strongest possible punishment. We've deactivated the individual's Dasher account and reached out to the Billings Police Department to support their investigation in any way possible. We strongly hope justice is served," they said.
Mason told MTN she was grateful for the second delivery driver, as he called the police, got the first driver's license plate number, and helped clean up Mason afterward.
"He did what kept him safe. He did what he could," said Mason. "I was so scared. (The second driver) comes in, he picks up all the food off of me, all the food off of the floor, puts it on my table. He's profusely apologizing, asking me if I'm okay."
Mason emphasizes that DoorDash was not responsible for the incident, or the second delivery driver. She is a delivery driver for Uber Eats and does not want the public to shy away from using these services. She just wants the public to be aware of the dangers.
"Leave it at the door, period," she said.
Mason says her husband and the public have been very supportive throughout the situation. She expects to recover from the situation, along with her upcoming surgery next month.
