Regional news briefly

Mom cited after baby left in running car

A woman who left her baby in a car while she ate lunch in a downtown restaurant on Monday was cited for child abandonment after passers-by called police, a police spokesman said.

Spokane police responded to the incident at a parking lot near 314 W. Riverside after a witness called at about 12:45 p.m. to say a baby had been left unattended in a 1998 Dodge Durango for about 20 minutes. The vehicle’s engine was running and the air conditioner was left on, police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

When police arrived, bystanders had opened the rear hatch of the Durango to see whether the child was breathing, Cottam said. Officers took the 14-month-old child, who was not injured, into protective custody.

At 1:30 p.m., the mother, identified by police as Jessi S. Thompson, 27, of Spokane, returned from the restaurant. She said she’d left a cell phone on next to her child and carried another phone with her to periodically check on the child. A police officer said he had picked up the phone in the car but could not reach anyone on it, Cottam said.

Police contacted Child Protective Services. The agency said it would not take custody of the child, but would be contacting Thompson.

Neither CPS nor Thompson could be reached Monday for comment.

The mother was cited with child abandonment, a gross misdemeanor, Cottam said.

Spokane Valley Police looking for speeders

The Spokane Valley police traffic unit will begin enforcing speed limits around city elementary, middle, and high schools starting today, when East Valley students return to school.

Officers will be monitoring speed and crosswalk compliance, and SCOPE volunteers will be operating radar reader boards at select East Valley schools today, said Cpl. Dave Reagan, police spokesman. Officers will be monitoring other Spokane Valley schools as they start next week.

Motorists are urged to use caution and comply with posted speed limits and pedestrian laws, especially when children are present, Reagan said.

The police department also wants to remind Spokane Valley citizens that the helmet ordinance that recently passed in the city of Spokane does not apply to Valley or Spokane County residents. Spokane’s ordinance requires helmets to be worn by bicyclists, roller bladers, and skateboarders of all ages.

“We have been receiving numerous phone call complaints about riders not having helmets, but the law (in the Valley) does not require them,” said Sgt. Martin O’Leary. “Obviously, we’d like to see adults wearing helmets, and also making sure that their children wear them as well.”

Police seek men who assaulted woman

Spokane Valley police are looking for three suspects who allegedly broke into the home of 44-year-old woman Saturday and severely beat her.

The victim told officers she was vacuuming about 2 a.m. inside her home in the 1300 block of South Evergreen Road, when she heard a noise and turned to see a man, possibly Hispanic, standing behind her, said Cpl. Dave Reagan, police spokesman.

The woman said the man pulled his white T-shirt up to cover part of his face, and began punching the woman in her face and head. The woman told police she also saw a black man carrying a stick, and a white man who also covered his face with his T-shirt, Reagan said.

The victim said she fell to the ground, and tried to block the blows to her face, but the suspect continue to strike her. When the man stopped, she heard one of the men walk downstairs, and she ran out the front door screaming. She called for help from a neighbor’s home, Reagan said.

The vacuum cleaner was still running when officers arrived, Reagan said. They found a long wood-handled garden tool in the victim’s bedroom, which she identified as the stick the black man had been holding.

It appeared the suspects also went through the woman’s jewelry box, Reagan said.

Anyone with information about the burglary is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233.

BPA expected to make some noise today

Residents of north Spokane may hear some blasts today as the Bonneville Power Administration works on its new 84-mile power line between Spokane and Grand Coulee Dam.

Implosive devices are used to splice cable and several will be set off in an area about a mile north of Spokane, the BPA said in a news release.

“It’s kind of like a large firecracker,” BPA spokesman Ed Mosey said. “There will be dozens of them over the length of the line.”

The implosion creates the pressure and heat required for the cable ends to knit together, Mosey said. The charges are set on lines suspended from utility towers.

Work on the line will continue through Thursday at the BPA’s Bell substation, adjacent to the former Kaiser Mead plant. The implosive devices will be used periodically as work continues.

The BPA is replacing 84 miles of 115-kilovolt wood-pole transmission lines with 500-kilovolt lines. The line is scheduled to be complete by December.

Man jailed after chase through city

A man with two outstanding felony arrest warrants was booked into jail over the weekend after he allegedly led a sheriff’s deputy speeding through Spokane streets.

Robert L. Ruth, 34, pulled into DuMor Recycling Center, 6400 N. Perry St., at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday. When Deputy Ron Mulvey pulled in behind him, Ruth sped off southbound on Perry and around several area streets, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department. He drove through stop signs and reached speeds of more than 60 mph in neighborhoods posted as 25 mph zones.

He was finally caught when he pulled into an alley south of Princeton Avenue and jumped out of his truck, according to the sheriff’s department. A witness directed Mulvey to a nearby residence, where Ruth was found hiding.

Ruth was driven to Spokane County Jail, where he was booked on arrest warrants for failure to appear on counts of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance. He was also booked on a new count of attempting to elude a police vehicle.

Tracy King, of UW Alumni Association, dies

Seattle Tracy King, under whose leadership the University of Washington Alumni Association more than tripled its membership, is dead at 73.

King, who also established the university alumni magazine, Columns, died Aug. 22, relatives and association officials said.

A native of Seattle, King grew up in Bellingham, Aberdeen and Vancouver, Wash., where he completed high school as an all-state end on the state championship prep football team. He attended the university on a football scholarship, earned a business degree, served with the Army for 18 months in Korea and worked as a sales agent for New York Life Insurance in Seattle.