Squirt Gun Confiscated After Being Mistaken For Weapon
Sheriff’s deputies stopped a car Saturday and ordered its occupants out at gunpoint after one of the passengers pointed a toy gun at others in the car.
Cpl. Dave Van Wormer pulled up behind the car at Argonne Road and Mission Avenue. He heard a scream coming from the car and saw a man in the back seat pointing a handgun at another man in the front seat.
The man then pointed the gun at the woman driving, the deputy said.
Van Wormer followed the car for several blocks and called for help from other deputies.
Deputies stopped the car at Fancher Road and Broadway Avenue about 4 p.m. Deputies - with guns drawn - ordered the occupants out of the car, said Lt. David Wiyrick.
All three were questioned and deputies confiscated the gun, which turned out to be a “very realistic looking” squirt gun, Wiyrick said.
The 36-year-old passenger in the front seat told deputies he had been playing when he pointed the squirt gun at the 40-year-old driver and her 18-year-old son.
The scream probably was the result of one of the occupants being squirted, deputies said.
No one was arrested, and deputies were thankful no one was injured.
“They didn’t know whether they were gang members or what,” Wiyrick said. “That’s the prime prescription for someone to get hurt.”
Boy with knife arrested
An 11-year-old boy was charged Friday with threatening a younger boy with a knife.
The 9-year-old victim told deputies he and a friend were walking home from school near Boone Avenue and Stout Road when the older boy put his arm around his neck. The older boy then held a knife to the boy’s back, deputies said.
The school principal who reportedly was driving by, stopped, took the knife away from the boy and made both boys return to school, Wiyrick said.
Deputy Steve Kukuruza questioned the older boy and determined he had gone home after school to change his clothes and get the knife. Kukuruza charged the boy with second-degree assault and released him to his mother.
Deputies said the boys had been playing on a large dirt pile the day before. A rock thrown by the older boy hit the other boy on the head, prompting an argument, deputies said.
Friday, the two Arthur B. Ness Elementary students argued again at school and agreed to meet for a fight, Wiyrick said.
Man arrested on drug charges
A man deputies stopped Friday night for driving erratically was arrested on drug charges.
Robert Wayne Torres, 49, was charged with possession of a controlled substance, a felony, driving while his license was suspended and for a warrant for failing to appear in Municipal Court.
Deputies stopped the 1974 Ford Mustang Torres was driving near 32nd Avenue and Woodlawn Road about 10 p.m. The car was less than 20 miles per hour and was weaving, deputies said. The posted speed limit is 35 mph.
Torres told deputies his driver’s license was suspended because he failed to pay traffic tickets.
Deputies searched Torres and found a pipe.
When they searched his car, deputies found marijuana and an electronic scale in the car, Wiyrick said. Deputies also found marijuana, drug paraphernalia and methamphetamine in the trunk, Wiyrick said.
Torres, who gave a Spokane address, was booked into the Spokane County Jail.
, DataTimes