Valley woman shot in arm, hospitalized

A Spokane Valley woman was shot in the arm Wednesday night and was listed in stable condition Thursday, police said. The man who brought her to a doctor was arrested for being a convicted felon with a firearm.

Spokane Valley police believe that William J. Lawrence, 26, was showing off a .25-caliber pistol when it discharged and hit the woman.

He initially told officers she was the victim of a drive-by shooting, Cpl. Dave Reagan reported in a media release.

Doctors said the bullet went through the woman’s right arm and entered her chest. Lawrence, the woman and others were in a house basement, police said. Lawrence was convicted of second-degree robbery in 2003 and is not allowed to possess firearms.

Electrocution caused concrete worker’s death

The Stevens County coroner’s office determined the cause of Gary D. Martindale’s death Wednesday was electrocution. Jack Le Bret, deputy chief coroner, performed an autopsy Thursday.

Martindale, 39, of Colville, was pouring concrete at Springdale Lumber Co. on Wednesday when a boom truck touched a high-voltage wire, killing Martindale, who was standing on the ground and touching the back of the truck. Martindale was working for Colville Valley Concrete Co.

Bomb squad helps detonate blasting caps

A Spokane bomb squad helped to safely detonate several hundred blasting caps Thursday found near Deary, Idaho.

A man living near the rural community had called the Latah County Sheriff’s Department on Sunday asking for help in safely disposing of between 200 and 300 blasting caps he had stored on his property, according to a statement from Sheriff Wayne Rausch.

A blasting cap is a small explosive device generally used to trigger a larger, more powerful explosive such as dynamite.

The county asked for help from Spokane and the blasting caps were detonated early Thursday afternoon without incident, according to the sheriff.

Police presence spooks drug suspect

An Idaho man who told police he “freaked out” Thursday when he saw deputies at a Spokane traffic stop will face charges of possessing methamphetamine with intent to deliver.

When Sean Allen Patterson, 31, of Priest River, Idaho, saw the deputies at Wellesley and Freya, he stopped, made a partial U-turn that blocked the road and sped off, reported Cpl. Dave Reagan, of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. He drove down dirt tracks along the railroad to Market and Francis, where he stopped and abandoned the car, Reagan said in a press release.

A motorist told the deputies that Patterson was hanging from a bridge. Patterson threatened to make the 50-foot drop, but deputies persuaded him to let them pull him up, Reagan said.

As the deputies handcuffed Patterson, a bag of meth fell from his pants pocket, the press release said. Deputies reported finding $500 in cash in his pants and more than 80 empty bags and electronic scales in his car.

A few minutes after being placed in the patrol car, Patterson removed four more bags of meth that he had hidden in a body cavity, Reagan said.

Patterson was taken to a downtown Spokane hospital before being checked into the county jail because he told deputies he had eaten meth a few hours earlier. He admitted to coming to Spokane to replenish his supply, Reagan said. A misdemeanor count of third-degree driving without a valid license is pending.

Women overcrowd Thurston County Jail

Olympia An unexplained influx of women inmates is further straining the capacity of the chronically overcrowded Thurston County Jail, officials say.

As of Wednesday the lockup had 65 women behind bars, 25 to 30 more than normal and 20 more than the number of beds in women’s units, jail Capt. Todd Thoma said

“When I came in this morning, we had about 20 females sleeping on the floor,” Thoma said.

Later in the day jail workers converted a unit that usually is reserved for men with disciplinary problems into cell space for eight women, and arrangements were made to send five women to the Benton County Jail in Kennewick, he said.

Space that normally can be rented for women inmates in neighboring Lewis County was unavailable because a new jail has been built and the old one – which contains the women’s cells – is being remodeled, Thoma said.

The reason for the surge in female inmates was unclear, but the number likely will subside in the usual jail population fluctuations, Thoma said. Overcrowding has long been a problem, but Thoma said it was the first time the number of women inmates had gone so far over capacity

The jail was built 30 years ago for 86 inmates. With additions and renovations, it now holds more than 400. Last year county voters rejected an $88 million bond measure for a new 640-bed jail.

Teen stabs father before being hit by train

Puyallup, Wash. A teenager reportedly stabbed his father in an argument, tried to stab himself, then ran out of the house and soon afterward was struck and killed by a train, police said.

Adam Tschannen, 18, of Puyallup, apparently was sitting on the tracks when he was hit by the northbound train early Wednesday in his hometown, police said.

Officers said he had gotten into an argument with his father Tuesday night, stabbed him in his head, neck, sides and hand, then tried to stab himself.

His mother was cut when she tried to stop him, and both parents were taken to hospitals for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, investigators said.

Tschannen’s body was found on the tracks shortly after 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.