Chad Sokol

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News >  Crime/Public Safety

Truck loses brakes, spills hay bales in Colfax

UPDATED: Mon., July 15, 2019

The truck lost its brakes and breezed through an intersection, and the driver avoided running into a drainage canal by making a hard right turn into an alley.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Woman accused of DUI after car hits pedestrian near Millwood

UPDATED: Mon., July 15, 2019

Gina M. Duer, 42, of Deer Park, was booked into the Spokane County Jail on suspicion of driving under the influence. Dominick D. Pirtle, 28, of Spokane, was injured and taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

News >  Spokane

Man wages lonely protest in downtown Spokane against migrant ‘concentration camps’

Fri., July 12, 2019

“I don’t have either party’s name on my sign,” said Bill Compher, a 69-year-old musician and grandfather who has been demonstrating on downtown street corners. “It’s a moral question, not a political question.”

News >  Spokane

Coeur d’Alene police name 8 officers involved in Fourth of July shooting response

UPDATED: Thu., July 11, 2019

The department identified the officers as Justin Bangs, Jacob Brazle, Kyle Cannon, Matthew Edward, Ryan Germain, Nathan Herbig, Jacob Proctor and Casey Ziegler.

News >  Spokane

Former city of Sprague employee pleads guilty to attempted theft, agrees to pay back thousands of tax dollars

UPDATED: Thu., July 11, 2019

A man accused of misspending tax dollars while working for the city of Sprague avoided a felony conviction and pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of second-degree attempted theft, a gross misdemeanor.

News >  Spokane

Gonzaga professor calls MAGA hats ‘undeniable symbol of white supremacy’ after student wears one to class

UPDATED: Thu., July 11, 2019

In a recent commentary piece, professor Jeffrey Omari recounted how he felt, as the lone African American in his classroom, when a student showed up one day wearing the ubiquitous apparel of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

News >  Spokane

Commissioners pick Mike Sparber to continue running Spokane County’s jail facilities

UPDATED: Tue., July 9, 2019

Sparber has served as interim director of Spokane County Detention Services since February, when

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Witnesses: Second suspect carried pistol amid Coeur d’Alene shooting panic

Tue., July 9, 2019

Witnesses said a second man was armed with a pistol as he ran from Coeur d’Alene police officers in the chaos that followed two shooting incidents at a Fourth of July fireworks show.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Motorcyclist hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after crash in Hillyard

UPDATED: Mon., July 8, 2019

First responders were called to the crash at Market Street and Bismark Avenue at 7:23 p.m. The man on the motorcycle was taken to a hospital. The driver of the other vehicle remained at the scene and was interviewed by officers.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Driver airlifted to Spokane hospital after rollover crash in Colfax

UPDATED: Mon., July 8, 2019

Emergency crews found Kyle A. Peterson, of Seatac, Washington, trapped inside his 1999 Ford Explorer, which was upside-down on the side of Colfax Airport Road.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Coeur d’Alene police tight-lipped about 18-year-old’s medical condition after officer-involved shooting

UPDATED: Mon., July 8, 2019

Police officials on Monday refused to disclose the medical condition of Tyler Rambo, the 18-year-old who was shot by Coeur d’Alene officers after allegedly firing a gun in a crowd at a Fourth of July fireworks display.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Arrest made in connection with Sunday’s fatal drive-by shooting in Wandermere

UPDATED: Tue., July 9, 2019

Witnesses said police used a pursuit intervention technique, or PIT maneuver, to stop the suspect’s Ford Expedition after a high-speed chase Monday evening. The vehicle crashed in a yard at Monroe Street and Rowan Avenue.

News >  Spokane

Reports of gunfire prompt SWAT standoff at Coeur d’Alene apartment; no one injured

UPDATED: Sun., July 7, 2019

A SWAT team including Coeur d’Alene police officers and Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies responded to the apartment after 4 p.m. and cordoned off the area near Fourth Street and Wallace Avenue.

News >  Spokane

Woman slain in drive-by shooting in Wandermere neighborhood; deputies searching for at least one assailant

UPDATED: Sun., July 7, 2019

A woman was killed in a drive-by shooting Sunday afternoon in the Wandermere area north of Spokane, and authorities were still searching for one or more assailants Sunday evening.

News >  Spokane

Flatbed truck crashes, burns on I-90 near Medical Lake; no injuries reported

UPDATED: Thu., July 4, 2019

A Washington State Patrol dispatcher said the crash was reported about 3:45 p.m. The truck was westbound when it veered off the roadway near the Salnave Road exit.

News >  Spokane

Sprague couple charged with misspending thousands of taxpayer dollars

UPDATED: Thu., July 4, 2019

Lincoln County prosecutors charged Christie E. Melton, 41, with money laundering and first-degree theft in late April, about a month after the state auditor’s office finished an investigation and published a report on the alleged thefts. Her husband, Shawn R. Melton, 46, was charged with second-degree theft in July 2018. Neither case has gone to trial.

News >  Spokane

Former sheriff’s sergeant files $12.5 million defamation claim after allegations of sexual harassment and violent, racist remark

Tue., July 2, 2019

Spokane attorney Mary Schultz, representing former sergeant Jeff Thurman, filed a tort claim Monday seeking nearly $12.5 million in damages from the county, saying Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich’s statements about Thurman were defamatory.

News >  Spokane

Stevens County prosecutor sues county commissioners for allegedly misspending $121,000 in homelessness funds

UPDATED: Tue., July 2, 2019

Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen started two lawsuits against the commissioners following a February report by the state auditor’s office, which found they had made an “unallowable gift of public funds.”

News >  Spokane

Deputy’s dog bites man in car trunk in Spokane Valley

UPDATED: Mon., July 1, 2019

The encounter began at about 2:30 a.m. when Deputy Thomas Walton pulled over a red sedan with no front or rear license plates on Broadway Avenue a few blocks east of Pines Road.

News >  Spokane

Home destroyed by fire in Airway Heights neighborhood

Sat., June 29, 2019

A male resident escaped the home with no injuries, but a firefighter was briefly hospitalized due to exhaustion.

News >  Spokane

EWU trustees approve $3.6 million budget cut; 55 tenured faculty offered voluntary buyouts

UPDATED: Thu., June 27, 2019

Eastern Washington University’s board of trustees on Thursday approved a 3% cut to the school’s operating budget for fiscal 2020. A presentation from the trustees’ meeting documents indicates about half of the $3.6 million budget reduction is due to shrinking enrollment forecasts.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Lawyer: Stevens County militia leader fled to West Virginia to escape threats, not authorities

UPDATED: Thu., June 27, 2019

A lawyer for James “Russell” Bolton, a Stevens County man accused of extorting members of his own right-wing militia group, says Bolton was not trying to hide from authorities when he fled to his father’s house in West Virginia.

News >  Spokane

Driver ticketed for wedging truck beneath Stevens Street railroad bridge

UPDATED: Mon., June 24, 2019

Folks might consider early retirement if they had a nickel for each time a tall truck has collided with the not-so-tall Stevens Street railroad viaduct in downtown Spokane.

News >  Spokane

Boys, 12, say they were victims of hit-and-run while riding bikes in Nevada Heights neighborhood

Mon., June 24, 2019

A trio of 12-year-old boys said they were run down by a speeding driver while riding their bikes Monday afternoon in a residential area in Spokane’s Nevada Heights neighborhood. Police and paramedics responded at about 2 p.m. after a vehicle clipped the rear wheel of one boy’s bike and caused another to tumble over his handlebars, suffering cuts and scrapes on his arms, legs and head.

News >  Spokane

Wildfire burns 3,000 acres on Colville Indian Reservation

UPDATED: Mon., June 24, 2019

A wildfire that burned roughly 3,000 acres on the Colville Indian Reservation was about 60% contained on Monday afternoon, and immediate evacuation orders for nearby residents had been lifted, officials said.