Teen held after high-speed chase
A 17-year-old boy was booked on felony counts of first-degree possession of stolen property and attempting to elude police after a vehicle chase that ended in Pend Oreille County on Monday.
According the Spokane County Sheriff’s department, a 40-year-old man called Spokane Police about 7:15 a.m. Monday and said someone had stolen his 2002 Mazda pickup from the Hollywood Video store at the Five Mile Shopping Center.
About four hours later, sheriff’s dispatchers received a call from a co-worker of the alleged victim who said he was following the stolen truck near Hatch and Handy roads.
The suspect headed southbound on Highway 2 and eventually passed Deputy Al Rollins. The chase turned northbound on Highway 2 with the suspect driving at speeds up to 75 mph in the 55 mph zone, the sheriff’s department reported. Oncoming traffic pulled to the shoulder as the suspect continued north, weaving around slower northbound vehicles and throwing items from the truck, according to the report.
The suspect turned off Highway 2 onto Mickelson Road where the truck slammed into a roadside ditch and rolled. The driver suffered cuts and scrapes and was driven to a Spokane hospital where he was examined, then taken to Spokane County Juvenile Detention.
Transient booked on escape warrant
A 20-year-old transient wanted for escaping a corrections center was booked on a Department of Corrections warrant Monday after she resisted a Spokane Police officer’s traffic instructions.
According to the police report, Abigail M. Meckle was blocking traffic at 2:40 p.m. when she walked across Fifth Avenue against the traffic light. Officer Larry House, who was waiting in traffic, pulled his car to the side and stopped Meckle.
The report said he was planning to tell her not to obstruct traffic when Meckle began yelling at him, saying he had no right to stop her.
When House learned there was a warrant for Meckle’s arrest, he placed her in the back of his patrol car. She immediately began kicking at the side door and glass window, police reported. House removed her from the car and placed her in a prone cuffing position.
Other officers arrived and took Meckle to jail. Meckle has a past record with area law enforcement including one conviction for assaulting a law officer.
Registered offender moves to Spokane
Michael A. Dury, a Level III registered sex offender, has moved to Spokane from Stevens County, the Spokane Police Department reported.
Dury is a 28-year-old, 5-foot-7, 170-pound white male with blond hair and blue eyes. A transient, Dury was released from prison in August after serving 18 months for the third-degree rape of an 18-year-old woman. He also was convicted in 1998 of the rape of a 14-year-old girl.
Dury will be under the supervision of the Department of Corrections for the next 36 months, and during that time cannot have contact with anyone under the age of 18.
He is not wanted by law enforcement at this time, but police want citizens to be aware of his history. He is considered to be a high risk to re-offend. He has no permanent address at this time.
Climbing guide rescued off Rainier
Ashford, Wash. One climbing guide was rescued by helicopter Monday from Mount Rainier and taken to a Seattle hospital for treatment of frostbite while a second guide was able to walk off the mountain.
Because of ice, Chris Bamer and Rob Montague ran into trouble attempting the difficult Ptarmigan Ridge route up the mountain, said Mike Gauthier, search and rescue coordinator for Mount Rainier National Park.
The two men, both guides for Rainier Mountaineering, radioed Saturday that Bamer had frostbite on his hands and feet and they had started down. On Sunday, they reported chest-deep snow and whiteout conditions. They were climbing by themselves.
Five rescuers went to their aid and reached them Sunday night on the Nisqually Glacier and helped them reach Camp Muir, at 10,000 feet on the 14,411-foot mountain.
Bamer was evacuated Monday morning and taken to Harborview Medical Center with frostbite on his hands and feet. His condition was not immediately available.
Montague walked down from Camp Muir with the rescue team and appeared to be in pretty good shape, Gauthier said.
Pink Toe Truck to be retired this week
Seattle Lincoln Towing’s famous Pink Toe Truck will make its final trip on Thursday, heading to the Museum of History and Industry.
Ed Lincoln, the towing company’s former owner, will be at the wheel.
The truck will go on display at the museum on Friday.
It’s only 22 years old, but some folks swear it’s been there forever.
Built on the frame of a Volkswagen bus with tube steel, chicken wire and fiberglass toes, the bright pink truck for years greeted Seattle drivers from its spot at the corner of Fairview Avenue North and Mercer Street. In 2002, it was given an overhaul to repair cracks in the fiberglass, worn Plexiglas windows, damp upholstery, a weakened floor and faded pink paint.
It’s been featured on television and postcards and has often lured tourists out of their cars for a quick picture in front of a Seattle landmark.
Nepalese burn victim to return home
Seattle An 8-year-old girl from Nepal who underwent four plastic surgeries at Swedish Medical Center after getting burned in a cooking fire is recovering and expected to return home this month.
Sushila K.C. came to Seattle last July from a home for underprivileged children in Katmandu. She underwent her first surgery last Aug. 23. The last one was performed Jan. 10, Swedish said in a statement Monday.
Sushila fell into a cooking fire at age 3 and suffered burns on nearly one-third of her body. The skin on her right torso could not expand or grow with her because the scarring was so deep, but the left side of her torso continued to grow normally. As a result, her right shoulder was being held lower by the scarred tissue — a problem that was getting worse with time.
Dr. Alfred Blue, a hand and plastic surgeon, performed all four procedures for free, and Swedish donated the remaining health care services Sushila needed.