Woman dies when motorcycle hits tree

A 47-year-old Spokane woman died Sunday after crashing her motorcycle into a tree.

The accident happened about 6 p.m. on Tucker-Prairie Road in western Spokane County. The woman’s name was withheld Sunday night.

Sheriff’s deputies said the woman was following her husband; both were driving Harley-Davidson motorcycles. They had just rounded a curve and were entering a short straightaway when her motorcycle went off the road and hit the tree.

Investigators said she was wearing a helmet and not speeding.

Spokane

No injuries, house destroyed in fire

Fire destroyed a northeast Spokane home early Sunday morning. No one was hurt.

The one-story home at 558 E. Longfellow drew 20 firefighters and multiple fire engines. The cause of the blaze is under investigation, according to a news release from the Spokane Fire Department.

It took three hours to fight the fire as crews cut holes in the roof to get to the flames.

Damage was estimated at $150,000.

Man arrested after morning crash

Spokane police say two people were hurt Sunday in an early morning high-speed drunken driving collision at South Inland Empire Way and 13th Avenue.

Police say they arrested Darel Ray Hartz, 47, on suspicion of driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. He crashed his vehicle into another car. Emergency crews had to pry the car open to free the driver, according to a news release.

Neither her injuries nor Hartz’s were life-threatening.

Coeur d’Alene

Driver charged with leaving scene

Kootenai County deputies arrested the driver of a semitrailer for leaving the scene of an injury accident on Friday.

Howard Eoff, 55, allegedly switched lanes on Interstate 90 near the Highway 395 ramp, struck a car in the passing lane and forced the car into the median, where it crashed.

Rather than stop to help the 21-year-old woman from Liberty Lake, Eoff continued driving west, according to a news release.

A deputy saw the crash and stopped Eoff three miles down the highway. He also was charged with obstructing and delaying a police officer, inattentive driving, false log book, false markings on a commercial vehicle and not having periodic inspections.

Federal Way, Wash.

Newborn girl left at church

Federal Way police say a 12-hour-old girl was abandoned at a church and the case is being investigated as abandonment of a dependent person, a felony.

The baby was found Sunday morning at Steel Lake Presbyterian Church.

Police say surveillance video showed a young woman leaving the child at 2:16 a.m. Police were called to the scene at 7:54 a.m.

Police say it is not illegal to leave a newborn child at a church or other public location, but a child must be turned over to a qualified person, such as someone in a hospital emergency room or an open fire station.