In brief: Woman injured in home invasion
A Spokane Valley home invasion early Sunday left a 50-year-old woman with minor injuries after two armed men wearing ski masks broke into her home on the 11300 block of East 40th Avenue.
The woman told officers she was in the kitchen when a man wearing gloves and a ski mask entered. She said she fought with the man until a second man, with a handgun, entered the kitchen and threatened to shoot her, again. Until then, the woman said, she had not realized she’d been shot in her thigh. During the confrontation, she fell over the open door of a dishwasher, knocking a tooth loose.
The men then left the home, reportedly empty-handed.
Deputies later apprehended 36-year-old Bradley B. Cooper, one of the two suspects. He was carrying a high-powered BB or Airsoft pistol. He was booked into the Spokane County Jail on suspicion of first-degree burglary.
Officers are looking for the second man and a woman who drove a getaway vehicle, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The victim was transported to a hospital, where she was treated for a pellet wound in each of her thighs. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.
Flood cuts Geiger’s phones, cameras
A power outage early Sunday left Geiger Correctional Facility without phones and security cameras for eight hours, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said.
The power outage began around 6:15 a.m. after water flooded the basement of the A building boiler room, shutting down power for cameras and phones in both the A building and the B correctional building, said Sgt. Brett Sobosky.
Electrical power was restored for phones and inmate building cameras by 4:20 p.m. Cameras in the boiler room building will remain out of order until sometime today.
There are no inmates in the A building, Sobosky said, adding the disruption posed no security risk.
Police quickly nab car, suspect
Coeur d’Alene police arrested a 35-year-old man accused of stealing a woman’s car late Saturday near a Lake City restaurant.
Police arrested Charles C. Petrich after he allegedly fled the scene and refused to stop when confronted by an officer.
The owner called police about 11:35 p.m. when she saw someone drive her car out of the parking lot of the Neider Avenue Red Lobster.
A patrol officer saw the car in the parking lot of a nearby Safeway and pursued northbound onto Government Way and then eastbound on Kathleen Avenue, where the driver lost control and crashed. The Idaho State Police responded and completed the accident investigation.
Petrich was taken into custody and charged with auto theft, felony eluding of police, driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license.
Agency proposes rerouting stream
LEWISTON – U.S. Forest Service officials are proposing moving a stream out of a mining tunnel and back to its historic channel to open about 15 miles of upstream habitat to federally protected bull trout and steelhead.
Clearwater National Forest officials said the project involves rerouting Musselshell Creek east of Weippe, Idaho.
The creek flows through 200 feet of mining tunnel cut through solid rock that is impassable to fish.
The Forest Service is taking public comments through Feb. 16.