Police officer killed when SUV runs red light
A Seattle police officer was fatally injured early Sunday when his vehicle was broadsided by an SUV that ran a red light just east of downtown, a spokesman said.
The officer was alone doing a routine patrol when the accident occurred about 4 a.m. The officer’s vehicle entered an intersection on a green light, said spokesman Sean Whitcomb.
The patrol car was struck by the SUV that was speeding and crossed against the light.
The 31-year-old driver was being treated for a broken left leg and ankle.
A woman believed to be a passenger in the vehicle was also injured and being treated at Harborview, Whitcomb said.
A second woman, believed also to have been a passenger, fled the vehicle on foot. A canine unit was unable to locate her, he said.
The 24-year-old officer, whose name has not been released, was a recent graduate of the police academy and had been patrolling for the past two months.
– Associated Press
Astoria, Ore.
Helicopter crashes off coast, killing 3
A helicopter crashed in foggy weather off the Oregon coast Sunday morning, killing two men and a woman who were part of a crew retracing the path of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
The Coast Guard received a call about 8:20 a.m. from a helicopter pilot who reported he had lost contact with a companion helicopter due to land in the Port of Astoria, said Coast Guard Lt. Brooks Crawford.
The two choppers had been flying in tandem as part of the Flight of Discovery, an educational and scientific project in which a team of volunteers fly the river corridors and overland routes of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
About 40 members of the group — comprised of scientists, historians, videographers and pilots — were in Oregon over the weekend, said Wendi Goldsmith, 41, a scientist and group member.
Coast Guard officials were withholding the names of the victims. Crawford said. The Coast Guard said they were from Southern California.
– Associated Press
Seattle
Outpatient status risky for kids with leukemia
Children with leukemia who are treated as outpatients at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center have about a one in five chance of being given the wrong medication or the wrong dosage, a study published today indicates.
Most of the mistakes the researchers found were trivial, although three could – but did not – cause problems, said the lead researcher, Dr. James A. Taylor, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington Medical Center.
Taylor’s study is being published in the Aug. 14 issue of Cancer.
The study looked at 69 patients receiving 172 chemotherapy medications and found one or more errors involving 17 medications and an unconfirmed possibility of more errors in 12 more drugs. Among the 17 errors, 12 were administration errors and five were prescription errors. At least one medication error affected 13 of the 69 children studied, or 18.8 percent.
Many of the errors were caused by parents mistaking the amount of a drug to administer or giving drugs more often or more seldom than prescribed.
– Associated Press