In brief: Officer who hit cyclist ID’d
The Spokane County sheriff’s deputy involved in a collision with a bicyclist Friday night is veteran deputy and former Post Falls City Councilman Joseph Bodman.
The Sheriff’s Office released his name to the public on Wednesday.
Bodman was westbound on Sprague Avenue at Vista Road around 10:30 p.m. when he hit 15-year-old cyclist Ryan Holyk.
Holyk was listed in critical condition at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center on Wednesday evening.
Bodman was responding at the time to back up another deputy who had stopped a suspect with a domestic violence warrant, according to a news release from the Spokane Investigative Regional Response Team, which is investigating.
Multiple witnesses said Bodman had a green light at Vista, the release said. The boy was southbound on the Vista Road sidewalk and had entered Sprague when he was hit.
Bodman has 25 years of law enforcement experience, including the past 12 years with Spokane County. He has run for political office several times in Kootenai County and served 12 years on the Post Falls City Council.
Dump truck crash kills 2
Two men are dead after their dump trucks collided head on and burst into flames just after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday four miles east of Mattawa in Grant County.
The crash occurred near the intersection of Road O Southwest and Road 27 Southwest, Grant County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kyle Foreman said. The impact was “severe” and both drivers were ejected and died at the scene, Foreman said.
Investigators said Yakima resident Bruce Patnode, 53, was driving a 2007 Peterbilt dump truck loaded with gravel north on Road O Southwest. His truck crossed the centerline and hit a 2000 Kenworth dump truck towing a trailer driven by Dale Peters, 45, of Selah, Washington. Both trucks burned.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Pet adoption deal offered
Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Services is offering a sale on its remaining animals as the organization prepares to move into a new building.
Starting today, and lasting until June 8, all animals can be adopted for only the cost of a license. That means cats and kittens will cost $15, and dogs and puppies will cost $25, a SCRAPS news release said. The cost includes spaying or neutering, vaccinations, microchipping, the license and exams. The full adoption cost usually is $87.04 for dogs, $62.70 for kittens and $40 for cats.
SCRAPS’ shelter at 2521 N. Flora Road will close June 10 and 11 for the move. The organization’s new building at 6815 E. Trent Ave. will open June 12 at 10 a.m.
Stolen Caterpillar found
A $100,000 Caterpillar front-end loader stolen from a Spokane Valley job site during the Memorial Day weekend was found Wednesday afternoon not far from where it was taken.
The 40,000-pound piece of equipment was stolen from a project site in the 16100 block of East Broadway Avenue. It was found parked on a residential street in the 2300 block of South Carnine Court.
The thief drove the 2006 938-G loader through a security fence, a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office news release said.
The owner of the company working at the site on Broadway rented a helicopter on Tuesday to search for the machine but could not find it.
The manager said the machine was locked but that a universal Caterpillar key could have been used to steal it.
Plea withdrawal sought
The only person in prison for the mysterious death of a northern Stevens County woman around Thanksgiving 2012 is asking to withdraw his guilty plea.
Jeremy W. Bryant is serving his nearly 20-year sentence for second-degree murder at a maximum security facility in Clallam Bay, Washington. He pleaded guilty in December to stabbing Narleen Campton, 62, once in the throat in her Northport home during an incident investigators have not fully unraveled.
Police found Campton, who had been beaten, strangled, stabbed and shot with a stun gun.
Bryant’s DNA was found at the scene, according to court documents. In his request to change his plea, filed just three months after his sentencing, Bryant said he received bad advice from his lawyer and believes the stab wounds were not what killed Campton.
A hearing is tentatively scheduled in a Stevens County courtroom in July.
Five cars involved in crash
A five-car crash blocked U.S. Highway 2 six miles west of Airway Heights for several hours Wednesday morning after a driver caused a chain reaction by rear-ending a car stopped in a construction zone.
All the vehicles were heading east on the highway just after 9 a.m. A Dodge Ram pickup driven by Bryant C. Blake, 46, ran into the back of a Toyota Camry driven by Ivan M. Babak, 72, of Soap Lake, Washington, the Washington State Patrol reported in a news release.
The force of the collision forced the Camry into the back of a GMC driven by Robert L. Zeoli, 63, of Lincoln, Washington. Zeoli was pushed into a GMC Envoy driven by Catherine E. Anderson, 53, of Davenport, Washington, who hit a Nissan Versa driven by Kagney L. Barger, 29, of Spokane.
Anderson and Barger were not injured. Blake and Babak were treated at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and released. Zeoli was listed in satisfactory condition Wednesday evening.
The crash is under investigation and no decision on possible criminal charges has been made, WSP said.
Assault victim hospitalized
A man assaulted at the Moses Lake Sand Dunes on Saturday was listed in good condition Wednesday after emergency surgery according to Harborview Medical Center staff.
Corey Barker, a 37-year-old Tacoma resident, was partying Saturday near the Crescent Bar, according to the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. Barker allegedly was shoved off a boat head-first into about a foot of water by the boyfriend of a woman he was dancing with.
Grant County sheriff’s investigators are searching for the alleged assailant. He was described as a white man about 6 feet tall, in his 20s with a muscular build and tattoos on his back and arms. The man’s girlfriend was described as white, in her late 20s, with bleached blond hair.