Friend believes father, son fell
No official word came Monday on how a Spokane man and his 12-year-old son died last week while mountain climbing, but a close friend has a pretty good idea.
“They fell,” said Paul Fish, a co-worker of Otto Vaclavek and member of the search party. “They fell definitely on ice in the couloir.”
That’s where 53-year-old Vaclavek and his son, Max, were found dead Saturday – the couloir, or gulley, in between two popular climbing peaks south of Leavenworth, Wash.
But Vaclavek was a climber with 30 years of experience and his son was well-versed in the same, Fish said. The two were to hike Sept. 15 and 16, but they didn’t come home Sept. 17 as expected. Vaclavek’s wife reported them missing Wednesday.
A search party that grew to 62 combed the area and found them dead Saturday in the gulley between Colchuck Peak and Dragontail Peak. Sheriff’s Deputy Gene Ellis said Monday the Chelan County coroner had not yet announced the cause of death.
– Nick Eaton
Man crashes SUV into law offices
A motorist now facing a drunken-driving charge managed to crash into a convenient building: a law office that specializes in DUI defense.
Bromeck A. Downey, 21, got into an argument at Rick’s Ringside bar in north Spokane late Sunday then jumped into a Chevrolet Blazer, according to a Spokane police news release. Witnesses told police Downey started speeding and driving recklessly.
The Blazer crashed into the Cooney & Associates law offices, 910 W. Garland Ave., leaving a hole in the side of the building. Nobody was inside or injured in the crash, according to the news release.
Downey was arrested for suspicion of DUI and reckless driving.
– Nick Eaton
Post Falls
Train hits truck; driver killed
A Post Falls man died Monday after he drove a semitruck over railroad tracks and was hit by a train.
Gary L. Gibson, 61, was driving west about 3 p.m. on West Hayden Avenue west of Highway 41, about two miles north of Post Falls, where Union Pacific Railroad tracks cross the road. He slowed down at the tracks but didn’t yield to a southwest-bound train, according to an Idaho State Police report.
The train struck the truck and Gibson was thrown from the cab. He was pronounced dead at Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene, the report states.
The investigation is continuing.
– Nick Eaton