In brief: Crash kills man trying to pass car
A Blanchard, Idaho, man died Friday after he crashed his pickup while trying to pass a car, the Idaho State Police reported.
George Staab, 34, was northbound on state Highway 41 near Old Priest River Road about 7 p.m. when he attempted to pass a car driven by Whitney Randolph of Priest River, Idaho, the ISP said.
Staab’s Dodge pickup rear-ended Randolph’s Geo Metro when he tried to avoid an oncoming car, causing both Staab’s and Randolph’s vehicles to roll, the ISP said.
Staab, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected, the ISP said. He was taken to Kootenai Medical Center, where he died.
Randolph, 16, was taken to Newport Community Hospital and treated for minor injuries. A passenger in her car, Travis Churchill, 16, was not injured.
Staab had been drinking, which could have been a factor in the crash, the ISP said.
Spokane County
Geiger staffing ‘back to normal’
Extra sheriff’s crews called in to bring order to Geiger Corrections Center on Friday afternoon were able to leave the complex about 3:30 a.m. Saturday.
“Everything is pretty much back to normal staffing,” Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said.
Four inmates mixed Purell hand sanitizer and Kool-Aid to make an alcoholic concoction and were found intoxicated Friday morning, Sgt. Dave Reagan said on Friday. They became uncooperative, so officers used force to get them to obey commands, including strapping two of them into restraint chairs.
A portion of the inmate population also was uncooperative while a section of the West Plains lockup was searched for contraband after the drunken inmates were found.
Knezovich credited Geiger officers for being able to maintain the complex before extra officers arrived.
“Two of them faced down 80 inmates that were chanting and making personal threats,” Knezovich said.
No injuries were reported.
The Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail, and the Spokane Police Department brought officers to the scene. The sheriff’s SWAT team was put on standby but not activated, Knezovich said.
Moses Lake
Father, two kids die in house fire
A father and two children died in a house fire early Saturday in Moses Lake, and the mother and a young child were injured.
Authorities said Daniel Villareal, 28, and two children – 7-year-old Dante Beltran and 5-year-old Natalie Beltran – died in the fire, which was reported at 6:35 a.m.
By the time fire crews arrived, neighbors said Villareal had gotten his wife and young son out of the burning home and gone back in for the others, said Sam Lorenz, Grant County’s emergency management director.
Villareal’s wife, Sara, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Her condition was unavailable. The young child, Lukas Villareal, whose age was unavailable, was taken to Samaritan Hospital in Moses Lake, where he was treated and released.
The fire destroyed the home at 4209 Moon Drive, on the outskirts of Moses Lake.