In brief: DUI suspect arrested after guilty plea on vehicular assault
A Spokane man who pleaded guilty Friday to a drunken vehicular assault from two years ago ended up arrested later that day suspected of a DUI hit-and-run accident.
Washington State Patrol officers jailed Jean P. Whitford, 32, on charges that he drove drunk Friday afternoon, collided with a car on Interstate 90 and then drove away.
Investigators reached Whitford by phone, who said he’d stopped to exchange information but lost the other driver in traffic.
During an interview, Whitford said he’d hid the vehicle involved in the accident. Officials said he appeared drunk.
Whitford was more than twice the legal limit on a breathalyzer test, according to the WSP. He told officials of his guilty plea earlier in the day on the 2012 charge and his release on $93,000 bail pending sentencing in two weeks.
Coffee with a Cop event planned
Spokane police are inviting members of the public to join its next Coffee with a Cop event at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Spokane Transit Authority Plaza, 701 W. Riverside Ave.
The coffee meetings are a new initiative by police to build a partnership with the community to fight crime. The department has increased its presence downtown with a police substation adjacent to the Plaza.
Coffee with a Cop is being used in 175 locales in 36 states.
Suspect in rape Saturday arrested
Police arrested a 36-year-old man accused of raping a woman early Saturday at Riverside Memorial Park.
Dylan Anstrom is suspected of the crime after meeting the woman at a downtown Spokane bus stop.
The woman told police she came to Spokane for mental health services and stayed at a women’s shelter before meeting Anstrom, according to court documents. She told him she was looking for a place to stay and he took her to the cemetery. The alleged attack took place at an encampment Anstrom set up on the bank of the river, away from the gravestones, according to court documents.
The woman told police that Anstrom became angry after the rape and started pacing, quoting the Bible and saying he was a sinner, according to court documents. She was taken to Providence Holy Family Hospital and examined after she called police using Anstrom’s cellphone. Anstrom was arrested and immediately asked for an attorney.
Suspect tells police he tried to kill self
The man who surrendered to Spokane police after a brief SWAT standoff in Nine Mile Falls on Saturday morning told detectives he tried to kill himself after allegedly stealing a car.
Blaze E. Smith, 43, was booked into Spokane County Jail after his release from Providence Holy Family Hospital this weekend. SWAT team members used tear gas to coax him out of the basement of a home in the 13300 block of West Pine Bluff Road on Saturday morning. He told officers he’d injected mercury and starter fluid prior to the standoff and was taken to the hospital for treatment, according to court documents.
Smith was wanted on warrants for drug possession, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and theft when he allegedly stole a Toyota SUV overnight Friday near the Hillyard neighborhood. Smith told police he knew the SUV was stolen “but didn’t have a choice” about driving it home, according to court documents.
He was booked into jail on an additional count of possessing a stolen vehicle as well as the prior warrants.
Body found in canal may be crash victim
COULEE CITY, Wash. – The Grant County Sheriff’s Office said a body found Monday in an irrigation canal near Coulee City may be the man who has been missing since a March 30 crash that also killed his 8-year-old son.
An irrigation district employee found the body not far from where the pickup truck went into the canal carrying Scott Kolves and his three sons. Eight-year-old Korey died in the crash. His 10- and 12-year-old brothers were rescued and survived.
The body has been turned over to the Grant County coroner and the Kolves family has been notified.
The 45-year-old Ephrata man worked as a security guard at Ephrata High School and also worked with special-needs children.
Woman set on fire dies of injuries
PUYALLUP, Wash. – A Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman said a woman set on fire at a Puyallup mobile home has died of her injuries.
Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said the 34-year-old woman had been at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle since prosecutors say her boyfriend tossed gasoline on her and set her on fire two weeks ago at the Hidden Glen Mobile Home Park. She died Sunday.
The woman had been identified as Maria Bazan.
Angel Reyes, 39, has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, assault, arson and resisting arrest. Deputies say he, too, was seriously burned. He was released from a hospital last Wednesday and booked into the Pierce County Jail, with bail set at $1 million.