Crews search Spokane River for missing airman

Emergency crews are looking for a missing Fairchild airman, 26-year-old James Adam Ramse-Lassiter, in the Bowl and Pitcher area of the Spokane River. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said Lassiter went out in an 11-foot canoe on Saturday and hasn’t been seen since. Friends searched along the river Monday and located Lassiter’s truck parked at Riverside State Park, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. “Preliminary reports were that Lassiter did not have a helmet, life jacket or exposure suit when he went into the water,” the release said. The Sheriff’s office has been searching by boat and personal watercraft since 10 a.m. today, and Fairchild and the U.S. Border Patrol have joined in the search with helicopters. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233. The Spokane Fire Department today warned people to stay out of the Spokane River, which is nearing flood stage. “Portions of the Centennial Trail along Upriver Drive just east of Mission Avenue are under water,” the city said in a news release.