Region in brief: Officer shoots armed man in hospital
OLYMPIA – Olympia police say an officer shot and killed an armed 43-year-old man in the emergency room at Providence St. Peter Hospital.
Officers responded to a 911 call early Saturday from hospital staff dealing with an unruly patient.
Police confiscated two loaded handguns from the man, who had been brought to the hospital with a head injury.
Police said the man became agitated when the staff prepared him for a medical test. When an officer on guard entered the treatment room, the man produced another gun. The two struggled, and the officer fired one shot at the man.
The man was treated for the gunshot wound but died. The officer, a 13-year veteran, has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Woman guilty of leaving baby at church
KENT, Wash. – A 23-year-old Federal Way woman who left her baby on a church doorstep has been sentenced to 200 hours of community service and a deferred two-year term.
At Friday’s sentencing, Sarah Christianson said she regretted her decision and was grateful she was still a part of her daughter’s life.
Christianson pleaded guilty last month to third-degree abandonment of a dependent. Police said she gave birth on Sept. 28 and left the girl outside Steel Lake Presbyterian Church. She turned herself in the next day.
It’s legal in Washington to leave babies anonymously at fire stations and hospitals but not at churches. The baby girl is in the custody of her grandmother in Auburn.
Idaho couple survive plane crash
RUPERT, Idaho – An Idaho pilot and his wife survived a crash landing in a remote area in south-central Idaho after both engines on their plane quit.
Bob Lavor Nestor and his wife, Cindy Nestor, both 58, walked away and declined medical help Thursday after their 1970 Beech A60 flipped on its roof when a wheel hit a rut on a dirt road on which they were attempting an emergency landing.
The couple, from Inkom, Idaho, told the Times-News they were able to get out a mayday call before going down.
About 20 minutes after they crawled from the wreckage, an F-16 pilot from Hill Air Force Base flew over the scene. But it took about 90 minutes for help to arrive due to the remoteness of the area.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash.
Bail set in deadly RV fire
WALLA WALLA – Bail has been set at $100,000 for a 41-year-old man accused of manufacturing methamphetamine, which officials believe started a fire that killed three people earlier this year.
He was arrested near Weston, Ore., last month and was transferred to Walla Walla County Jail on Thursday.
Allen is accused of manufacturing meth in an RV on Feb. 25. Officials say a chemical fire flashed during the process, killing three, including his daughter, inside the vehicle.