In brief: Police say man tried to kill woman for rejecting him
Spokane police this week arrested a man they say tried to kill a woman last month after she declined his sexual advances.
Avery Quin Zion Latham, 23, of Spokane, faces charges of attempted murder, second-degree assault and first-degree kidnapping.
Emergency crews were called to the 1800 block of East First Avenue on Dec. 28 after the woman, who had a large cut on her neck, came to a home seeking help, police said in a news release.
Officers responded to the hospital where she was taken but had difficulty getting information from her at least in part because of her injury, the news release said. Police were unable to locate a crime scene, and when detectives pursued the case, the woman had been released from the hospital and no contact information was available, police said.
Detectives later found her at a residence in north Spokane. She told police she had gone to bed at a home in the 1700 block of East First Avenue when Latham came into her room and made sexual advances. After making it clear that she was not interested, he assaulted her and she lost consciousness, police said.
The victim awoke in the yard of a vacant home with the cut on her neck, police said. She told police that she and a friend identified Latham by looking at Facebook profiles. Police arrested Latham at the home where the assault occurred on First Avenue.
Latham’s father, Kelly Latham, said Friday evening that he knew little about the case but indicated there is much more to the story that could help vindicate his son.
Agreement could bring hydroplane races back
Hydroplanes may be back in Coeur d’Alene this summer.
H1 Unlimited, which sanctions hydroplane races, said it has signed an agreement with Coeur d’Alene Hydroplane Regatta LLC, to stage unlimited hydroplane races on the lake from Aug. 14-16. The new races would be called the Coeur d’Alene Silver Cup.
The Diamond Cup hydroplane race was held on the lake in August 2013 – the first time since 1968. While it drew crowds, the event lost money and several organizations that provided services were left unpaid.
Organizer Diamond Cup Unlimited intended to race again last summer, but the Kootenai County sheriff withheld a required permit because the organizer failed to complete several requirements and the event was canceled.
In a news release Friday, H1 Unlimited said the new organizing group is made up of “very influential members of the Coeur d’Alene community” who are “willing to do what it takes, including investing their own money, to make this race happen in 2015.”