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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Man, 44, killed in motorcycle crash

Compiled from staff and wire reports The Spokesman-Review

A 44-year-old Inchelium, Wash., man was killed Saturday night when his motorcycle left the roadway.

Michael Allan Brooks was riding his 1994 Harley-Davidson Fatboy motorcycle at 8 p.m. on the Kettle-Inchelium Highway a half-mile north of Inchelium when his motorcycle left the road.

Brooks was northbound when he entered a curve to the right. The motorcycle crossed the centerline and left the highway to the left, according to a news release from the Washington State Patrol.

Brooks died just before being airlifted to a hospital. No other drivers were involved, and no official cause was listed for the crash.

Fish Lake drowning victim identified

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office has identified a man who drowned Saturday while playing with family members at Fish Lake County Park as 39-year-old Robert A. Vaughn.

Rescue crews were called to the small lake near Cheney at about 6:20 p.m. Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Vaughn had been reprimanded by the lifeguard for pretending to be drowning.

When Vaughn went down the last time, the guard walked to the dock and quickly realized the man wasn’t joking, deputy Tom Walker said Saturday.

Two other lifeguards and four citizens searched for Vaughn but were unable to find him in the murky water.

The Spokane City-County Water Rescue Team responded and found Vaughn within about five minutes in about 10 feet of water.

Medics were unable to revive him.

Man gets five years in mental hospital

Olympia A Rainier, Wash., man has been sentenced to five years in a mental hospital after pleading not guilty by reason of insanity to an attack on five nurses.

Gordon R. Liggett, 50, was charged in Thurston County Superior Court with five counts of third-degree assault stemming from the attack in June on nurses at Providence St. Peter Hospital.

He had been admitted to the hospital on June 3 for seizures when he reportedly beat nurses with his fists and stabbed others with a pen.

After his arrest, Liggett said he didn’t recall why he had been hospitalized.

His court-appointed attorney, Margaret Brammall, said Liggett did remember having paranoid delusions.

A court-ordered mental evaluation at Western State Hospital found Liggett legally insane.

He was sentenced last Tuesday before Thurston County Judge Thomas McPhee.