Woman Assaulted By Intruder On Returning Home From Store
A Spokane Valley woman was beaten Monday by a man she found in her kitchen after returning home from the grocery store.
The 43-year-old woman had just set her groceries on the counter of her apartment in the 1800 block of North Hutchinson when the man grabbed her and shoved her against a wall.
The man punched the woman in the face several times and hit her over the head with a frying pan. He then threatening the woman and struck her in the face once more before leaving.
The woman was taken to the hospital where she was treated for head and facial injuries and released.
She said her attacker was white, about 5-foot-7 with a stocky build. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, brown gloves and sun glasses.
Spokane County sheriff’s deputies are asking anyone with information about the attack to call Crime Check at 456-2233.
Three arrested on drug charges
Three men were arrested in the Valley after deputies said they found drugs and drug paraphernalia in their car.
Deputies were investigating a report of a suspicious person in the 5700 block of South Chapman on Monday evening and stopped the three men for a traffic violation.
When deputies searched the car, they found cocaine and drug paraphernalia, said Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. David Wiyrick.
Douglas M. Simmons, 28, Michael M. Ball, 31, and Lewis L. Harrington, 26, were all arrested on drug charges.
Simmons was arrested for possession of a controlled substance. Ball and Harrington were charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.
All three were booked into the Spokane County Jail.
Fire burns near wood plant
Fire threatened two plants near the Spokane Industrial Park that manufacture logs used as fire starters early Tuesday.
A fire that started on a utility truck at Pacific Utility Equipment Co. fluttered close to Spokane Pres-To-Log, Inc. at 3020 N. Flora before firefighters from the Spokane Valley Fire District extinguished the fire about 4:30 a.m.
The blaze destroyed the fiberglass bucket lift on the utility truck, a wooden pallet and a 20-foot circle of sawdust in the northeast corner of the utility company’s yard.
The ring of charred sawdust was within 20 feet of a building that houses Spokane Pres-To-Log, Inc. Dellen Wood Products sits on the other side of the yard.
Damage to the truck was estimated at $800.
Man jailed after scuffle with deputies
A man who ran from deputies after being pulled over for a traffic violation was arrested on an outstanding warrant.
Deputies said they stopped a car driven by Bruce A. Finch at the corner of Desmet and Howe last Saturday morning. When they checked his record, deputies discovered an outstanding warrant for Finch’s arrest.
Knowing he was going to be arrested, Finch got out of his car, lunged between two deputies and ran, deputies said.
Deputies chased Finch, wrestled the 27-year-old Spokane man to the ground near the car and arrested him on the warrant. He was also cited for third-degree escape.
The deputies were injured, but neither seriously. One went to the hospital to have his elbow examined. The other was treated for elbow and knee injuries.
Missouri fugitive arrested
Two people who detained a man they said was driving recklessly unknowingly caught a man wanted for robbery in Missouri.
Ralph K. Leach, 35, was driving recklessly near the state line early last Saturday, two witnesses told deputies. The two caught up with Leach in the 22700 block of East Mission and forced him to wait with them until deputies arrived.
Leach’s record showed an outstanding warrant for a robbery out of Missouri.
Leach, who told deputies he was from Post Falls, was booked into the Spokane County Jail as a fugitive.
, DataTimes