Briefly

Disabled student allegedly assaults teacher

A 20-year-old mentally disabled student was expelled Wednesday from West Valley High School for allegedly assaulting a teacher.

The student, whose name was not released, hit a para-educator in the face, said Sue Shields, West Valley district spokeswoman.

Spokane Valley Police Department spokesman Dave Reagan said the teacher did not suffer any serious injuries but did receive a bloody nose.

An officer responded to the incident, and school staff had already talked the agitated student off a school bus and persuaded him to sit on the curb, Reagan said.

The student was arrested on suspicion of fourth-degree assault. He was released to his home.

“We have issued an emergency expulsion and he has been removed from the school,” Shields said.

Shields said the district will determine whether the boy will eventually return to the school.

“He is a severely mentally handicapped student,” Shields said. “They’ll have to evaluate all of the circumstances.”

WSP public information officer gets promotion

The Washington State Patrol public information officer for Spokane’s has been promoted to sergeant and reassigned to a supervisory position in District 7 based in Everett.

Sgt. Brad Hudson, 38, who has been a trooper in Spokane for 10 of his 14 years in the WSP, will supervise a detachment of troopers in and around Monroe, Wash., including Stevens Pass.

His successor is Trooper Jim Hayes, 48, who has worked for the WSP in Spokane for three years. Hayes was previously assigned to Lincoln County

Hudsonis a graduate of Priest River High School and attended North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene. He is married and has two children.

He has been the region’s public information officer since January 2000, keeping the public informed about traffic accidents and crime investigations. He was also a member of the patrol’s Executive Protection Team, providing security for the governor and lieutenant governor during visits to the region. As a member of the WSP’s Civil Disobedience Action Team, he worked on the Seattle WTO riots of 1999 and the Washington State University riot of 1998 in which 20 police officers were injured.

Hudson’s last day of work in Spokane is Friday.

Bank tellers complain of burning on hands

Firefighters were called to a North Spokane bank Wednesday afternoon after employees handling cash appeared to have a reaction to something on the money, the Spokane Fire Department reported.

Crews were sent to Washington Mutual, 2215 W. Northwest Blvd., after a report of a woman having difficulty breathing about 4:15 p.m. When they arrived at the scene, they discovered that two other employees had noticed a burning sensation to their hands that appeared to have been caused by a substance on some cash, said Battalion Chief Mike Inman.

Inman said the department’s hazardous materials unit was called to the scene. The bank put the cash into a plastic bag and put it in its safe until the material could be tested.

Hazardous material crews could not find enough of the substance on the money to determine what it may have been, Inman said.

Some residue was found on the clothes of the woman who had breathing problems, Inman said.

She was decontaminated at the scene and taken to a local hospital as a precautionary measure, Inman said. The other two employees were not sent for further medical treatment.