Gonzaga University basketball fans cheer for everything, even when the woman singing the national anthem hits the high note. Well, maybe not when the Augustana basketball team from somewhere in the Great Plains scored the first basket of Wednesday night's preseason basketball opener.
James Lee Crabtree, who was a sheriff's deputy in the 1980s, caused a head-on crash Tuesday that that was "eerily similar" to one five years ago in which he nearly killed a deputy, a sheriff's spokesman said. As before, Crabtree was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs, according to Sgt. Dave Reagan. No one, however, was injured this time.
A 43-year-old Spokane man who once tried to run over his family has now been charged with two counts of child assault for allegedly choking and beating two of his four children. Steven Minor Dodge, 3327 E. Upriver Drive, was arrested Wednesday on one count of third-degree assault in connection with his 12-year-old son and one count of fourth-degree assault involving his 13-year-old daughter.
A Cheney resident who uses marijuana to relieve his multiple sclerosis has again been charged with manufacturing the drug illegally. Sam Dean Diana, 57, was convicted in federal court in 1999 along with four other men who helped him grow a large marijuana crop. Now he and a helper, 43-year-old Gene Arthur Midkiff Jr., are charged in Spokane County Superior Court.
Stevens County voters face a stark choice for sheriff: a far-right constitutionalist who's been convicted of flouting the law or the veteran cop who locked him up. Such a contest might seem lopsided, but the constitutionalist is a former county commissioner who previously was elected to the Kettle Falls School District and Stevens County Public Utility District boards.
A standoff between law enforcement officers and a man armed with a scoped rifle inside a Spokane Valley mobile home park ended shortly before midnight Friday, when the suspected gunman was brought down with a beanbag round. Spokane Valley police, sheriff's deputies and Spokane police had cordoned off the 51-unit Valley Breeze mobile home park at 6300 E. Second Ave. for at least six hours.
A former Okanogan County sheriff's sergeant began serving a 30-day sentence this week for stealing equipment from a school. Richard Paul Waters turned 37 in the county jail Tuesday, where he is being kept in isolation to protect him from other inmates.
Suncrest resident Charles David Young was formally charged Friday with soliciting the deaths of a former girlfriend and his unborn child that she is carrying. Documents in Stevens County Superior Court say the 18-year-old defendant told a friend that his pregnant ex-girlfriend was a problem, and he wanted "to make it disappear."
Bail was set at $1 million Thursday for a Suncrest-area teen who allegedly tried to hire a hit man to kill his unborn child and, if necessary, his pregnant ex-girlfriend. The 17-year-old ex-girlfriend was eight months pregnant when Stevens and Spokane County sheriff's officers arrested 18-year-old Charles D. Young on Wednesday.
The suspect in a fight and car chase last weekend, in which a vehicle was riddled with bullets, was arrested Thursday and released Friday. Dung Ngoc Quoc Le, 23, was being held on suspicion of four counts of first-degree assault, drive-by shooting and riot when he posted a $100,000 bond and was released from jail.
Spokane police invoked their "fatal incident protocol" Thursday morning when a man who fought officers violently, injuring three of them, showed signs of possibly fatal stress. Doctors were concerned the man, whose name was not released, might not survive when he arrived at a hospital. But he was in satisfactory condition by midafternoon, according to sheriff's Sgt. Dave Reagan.
Once again, Spokane County Prosecutor Steve Tucker must decide whether charges can be filed after a law enforcement officer orders deletion of sexually explicit digital photos of a teenage girl. As with nude photos a Spokane firefighter took in February of a 16-year-old girl with whom he had sex at a fire station, authorities were unable Wednesday to recover deleted photos of a 14-year-old University High School girl.
Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich promised Wednesday to review the conduct of deputies who searched an innocent Spokane couple's home because of a detective's error and announced changes to prevent similar mistakes in the future. "This is very serious," he said in a midafternoon press conference. "People can get hurt if this happens."
Sorry, wrong number. Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich confirmed Tuesday that his officers searched the wrong house last week when a detective got one digit of a telephone number wrong.
When an obscene caller told numerous Whitworth College students that he was watching child pornography, authorities took him at his word. College officials hadn't been able to trace the calls, which came from blocked numbers, but Spokane County sheriff's Detective Tim Hines had better luck.
A Spokane Valley man was charged Thursday with burning an occupied garage in a fit of jealousy. Court documents say George Trevor Kettenton, 40, set fire May 2 to a detached garage at the home where he and his off-and-on girlfriend, 29-year-old Carrie J. Difilippo, had been living, even though she had a protection order against him.
A veteran Spokane police officer was critically injured Tuesday when his motorcycle slammed into the side of a minivan. Sgt. Rick Dobrow, supervisor of the traffic unit, was southbound on Monroe Street with emergency lights flashing when the crash occurred at 5:19 p.m. at the intersection of Dalke Avenue.
Stevens County Prosecutor Jerry Wetle moved this week to seek above-standard punishment for a man accused of raping and kidnapping a Chewelah, Wash., woman and forcing her to be naked in public. Wetle filed a motion Thursday to amend the charges against 26-year-old Gregory Lee Hyde, adding allegations of deliberate cruelty and invasion of privacy.
A Stevens County sheriff's deputy and a Chewelah police officer justifiably shot a man to death in May when he ran at them with a pistol, county Prosecutor Jerry Wetle ruled Friday. Wetle declined to file charges against Deputy John Bowers or Officer Travis Frizzell, who shot 47-year-old Donald L. Hobrecht to death in a Chewelah-area home on May 19.
The historic Finch Lodge at the Cowles Scout Reservation on Diamond Lake will be replaced, not renovated, Boy Scout directors decided Thursday. However, historic artifacts from the 83-year-old lodge – including its mezzanine railing – will be incorporated into the new lodge, according to Tim McCandless, executive director of the Inland Northwest Council of Boy Scouts of America.
A 67-year-old stroke victim has died more than a month after being found in what paramedics described as some of the worst living conditions they had seen. Mary C. Tolliver died Tuesday at Deaconess Medical Center, where she was taken Aug. 7 when relatives found her lodged between her bed and a wall, covered in cat feces and garbage.
A third suspect was named Tuesday in the murder of a man whose charred body was found last month in a burning pile of hay and slash near Newman Lake. Sheriff's Detective Rob Sherar said he plans to seek a first-degree murder charge against Andrew King Salmon, 34, 18410 E. Mission Ave., in the Aug. 11 death of 42-year-old Craig Alan Schiering.
Longtime Stevens County Prosecutor Jerry Wetle was turned out of office by challenger Tim Rasmussen in Tuesday's Republican primary. Rasmussen, who lives in Suncrest and currently is a deputy prosecutor in Spokane County, had 54.5 percent of the unofficial election night total, with 1,813 votes to Wetle's 1,506.
Frontier "preacher" Dave Nunn was in his element Saturday at the Redemption at Plummer Butte cowboy shooting event a couple of miles east of Plummer, Idaho. After all, "Pastor Dave" Nunn is as handy with a Colt Peacemaker as a prayer book.
Chuck Wallace works early morning hours as an airport security officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, so he was taking a nap about 3:30 p.m. Friday when a transit bus rearranged his dining room. "So much for home security," he said, surveying the wreckage.
