Thomas Clouse

Wrapped in a blanket under gray skies, Ann Zehm reached out to touch the metal plaque placed at Mission Park to honor her son, Otto, on what would have been his 43rd birthday. The entire Spokane City Council, Mayor David Condon, police Chief Frank Straub and family gathered for a private ceremony Wednesday in the park where Otto Zehm played as a child. The plaque reads: “In Memory of Otto Zehm.”

A judge sentenced Spokane Valley bar owner Scott C. Reckord to prison for 2½ years Tuesday for killing a bicyclist in a March 1, 2010, drunken-driving collision in downtown Spokane. Reckord, 51, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide, wiping tears and looking away as the family of crash victim David L. Squires spoke.

Excessive force case loses appeal

Wiping tears and looking away as his victim’s family spoke, a Spokane Valley bar owner pleaded guilty today to vehicular homicide after he drove drunk and fatally struck a bicyclist in 2010.

A reserve Stevens County sheriff’s deputy with eight months’ experience fired the shot that killed a despondent 66-year-old man last week. Spokane County investigators, who are in charge of the inquiry, said Thursday that Reserve Deputy Nick Wolfe and five-year veteran Deputy Travis Frizzell responded to a 911 call in the same car at about 10:50 p.m. last Friday. Officials previously described it as a “suicidal” call from John E. Peterson, a Vietnam veteran who had recently moved to Stevens County from Minnesota.

Man pleads guilty to gang shooting

A Stevens County Sheriff's reserve deputy fired the shot that killed a 66-year-old man last Friday night following a 911 call to the man’s Valley residence.

The Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office has cleared a Spokane Police officer after he shot a man in June who was pointing a BB gun at another man whom the shooter thought had stolen his two bicycles.

The man shot to death Friday by Stevens County deputies was a 66-year-old Vietnam veteran who had struggled with depression. Law enforcement officials have yet to officially identify John E. Peterson, who recently moved to Stevens County from Minnesota, but his family said Wednesday they remain concerned because they have not received much information about what happened.

The man shot to death last Friday by Stevens County deputies was a 66-year-old Vietnam veteran who had struggled with depression.

Police guild "circled the wagons" after Zehm

A Spokane County Superior Court judge believes she’s being treated unfairly by the county when it comes to cashing out unused vacation time, saying many of her colleagues were allowed to collect tens of thousands of dollars in such compensation while she’s being denied. Superior Court Judge Annette Plese sued the county over $15,800 worth of paid vacation hours she believes she’s due from 2009, when she ended her service as a Spokane County District Court judge and was elected to her current position on the Spokane County Superior Court bench.

Two weeks before Spokane police Officer Barry O’Connell’s daughter accidently shot herself Easter Sunday with her father’s department-issued pistol, O’Connell had completed a gun safety refresher course stressing the importance of properly securing firearms – especially around children. Documents obtained by The Spokesman-Review provide new details surrounding the near tragedy, including concerns from a departmental gun safety instructor who described O’Connell as having a nonchalant attitude about the importance of proper handling of loaded firearms. The documents also reveal, for the first time, that another child was endangered but unharmed during the incident.

The attorney for Karl F. Thompson Jr. asked a federal judge today to give the decorated former Spokane Police Officer a “just” sentence that includes no imprisonment.

Oreskovich gets another week to file