Man hurt in effort to stop thieves

A 19-year-old Otis Orchards man was dragged, then run over early Saturday when he tried to stop two men from breaking into his Volkswagen Jetta, Spokane Valley Police spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said in a news release Sunday.

The man looked out his window in the 10000 block of East 17th Lane about 2:40 a.m. and saw a white 1992 to 1994 Saturn backed up to his car. Two men were trying to enter the Jetta, Reagan said.

The victim ran out of the house, yelling at the suspects, one of whom ran away while the other drove off. The victim leaped onto the Saturn’s roof and hung on to the driver’s shirt, pounding on the roof and yelling for him to stop, Reagan said. The driver made several sharp turns, causing the victim to fall off the roof, but not to let go of the shirt.

The victim remained upright for a short distance, being dragged in his sock-clad feet, before slipping under the car, which ran over both his feet.

He was hospitalized for at least a dislocated toe, and was being held for observation, Reagan said.

The Saturn’s driver was a white male in his late teens or early 20s who had very sharp cheekbones and acne. The victim said the Saturn was a four-door model with a factory-installed spoiler on the trunk, as well as possible damage to the roof from the pounding.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Spokane Valley Police at 242-TIPS.

Suspicious object in tunnel was not explosive

Seattle

Train service through downtown Seattle was halted for four hours Sunday while police investigated a suspicious object that turned out to be a non-explosive electric device.

The Seattle police bomb squad determined the object was an electric transformer after blowing it up Sunday night, police spokesman Rich Pruitt said.

“It had some electric components, wires and some stuff. It made kind of a mess,” he said. The object may have been related to repair work in the tunnel, Pruitt said.

Police were called to the scene about 4 p.m. when a rail inspector reported a small, metallic-looking box in the mile-long Great Northern tunnel. Train service resumed at about 8 p.m.

The investigation stopped train service, including a train that was carrying about 300 fans north after the Seattle Mariners’ 8-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

Passengers at the King Street station instead were loaded onto buses, Sound Transit spokesman Geoff Patrick said.