Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Video shows police kicking man

From Wire Reports

SEATTLE – A video showing Seattle police officers stomping on a man’s head and body and using a racial epithet has prompted an internal investigation by authorities and disgust by the mayor.

The incident occurred as Seattle police were responding to an armed robbery call near a nightclub in Seattle’s Westlake neighborhood on April 17. Patrons had called police and described the suspects as Hispanic.

The video was shot by a freelance videographer and aired Thursday by KIRO.

It turned out the man was not the robbery suspect, and the officers let him go.

Seattle police said Thursday an internal investigation of possible officer misconduct was under way.

Man gets life term for ax killings

TACOMA – A man who killed his estranged wife and his stepdaughter with an ax has been sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.

Charles Nettlebeck, of Orting, was earlier convicted of two counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the March 2009 deaths of 52-year-old Barbara Jo Nettlebeck and 33-year-old Bretta Joan Hawkins.

According to court documents, Barbara Nettlebeck was in the process of getting a divorce but the man had gone to his wife’s home to participate in a garage sale. Prosecutors allege his wife said something to him and he picked up an ax and struck her with it. He then found Hawkins and killed her. Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty because of the man’s history of mental illness.

Burning truck arrives at fire station

MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Truck on fire? Forget calling 911. Craig Brown, of Carlton, just drove a few more blocks to the McMinnville Fire Station when smoke started to billow from under the hood of his pickup.

McMinnville Fire Marshal Eric McMullen said a firefighter who’d been outside Friday morning washing an ambulance rushed inside to get help. Firefighters opened the hood and found flames licking around the engine. They quickly grabbed a hose and put out the fire.

McMullen said the crew was happy to be able to help without leaving the station. And he added, “We were joking today about our new drive-up service.”

Worker in fatal explosion identified

COLUMBIA FALLS, Mont. – A utility worker who died when a house exploded in Columbia Falls has been identified as 53-year-old Jim Hilton, of Kalispell.

Northwestern Energy said Hilton was a journeyman serviceman who worked for the company for 15 years.

He was part of a four-man crew that was just beginning repairs to a damaged gas service line when a nearby house exploded Thursday afternoon.