In brief: Lewiston man killed in one-vehicle crash
A 24-year-old Lewiston man died Tuesday morning when his vehicle left state Highway 3 between Juliaetta and Kendrick, the Idaho State Police said.
Travis D. Cleveland was driving north on the highway in a Ford pickup around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday when he drove off the road on the right side of the highway, according to a news release. The truck traveled down an embankment and flipped. Cleveland was declared dead at the scene, according to the ISP.
Cleveland was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. A dog was in the truck during the crash and survived. It was taken to a veterinarian in Moscow, ISP said.
Invalid search voids sentence for drugs
A Yakima County man earned a reprieve Tuesday from a five-year sentence for drug possession when appellate judges ruled a search of his bag by deputies was unlawful, despite his admission he possessed methamphetamine.
Heath Wisdom was pulled over near Moxee, Washington, in October 2010, driving a truck and towing an all-terrain vehicle that had been reported stolen. Yakima County Sheriff’s Deputy Nate Boyer found a pipe used to smoke methamphetamine on Wisdom, according to court documents.
After reading Wisdom his Miranda rights, Boyer asked if there was meth in the truck, and Wisdom told him it was lying on the front seat, according to court documents. Boyer found a bag in the cab containing meth, heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy and $2,700 in cash.
The court ruled in a 2-1 opinion that the search was unlawful because Boyer had not obtained a warrant. Writing for the majority, Judge George B. Fearing wrote that the case illustrated whether the state “will be a police state, in which law enforcement officers employ their own discretion when determining to search property, or a state under the rule of law.”
Judge Kevin Korsmo, in his dissent, said the decision “boggles the mind.”
Deputy unhurt when car hits apple trees
A Grant County Sheriff’s deputy was hurt but his injuries were not life-threatening Tuesday when a crash sent his patrol car into an orchard.
Deputy Allen Sleeper, 61, was driving his Dodge Charger patrol car west on state Route 262 on his way to a 911 hang-up call in the Mattawa area when he attempted to overtake a Ford pickup, according to a Sheriff’s Office release.
Sleeper attempted to pass the truck, driven by Ronald A. Davis, of Pasco, and the vehicles collided when Davis tried to make a left hand turn into a driveway, according to the press release. The collision sent Sleeper’s patrol car into an apple orchard, where it hit several trees.
The patrol car was totaled. Davis was uninjured. The crash is under investigation by the Washington State Patrol.