CdA man arrested after girl burned
A Coeur d’Alene man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of burning a 3-year-old left in his care, police said.
Upon returning home, the child’s mother noticed that her daughter’s hands were red and peeling, and she took her to Kootenai Medical Center.
Sean Albert Campbell, 33, told police that the daughter of his girlfriend accidentally got Drano on her hands, but that story was inconsistent with what others in the household said, according to Coeur d’Alene police.
Medical personnel at the hospital said the burns were caused by hot water, not by chemicals.
Campbell faces a charge of felony injury to a child.
Man, 78, dies of injuries from Highway 2 crash
A 78-year-old man who was struck this month while trying to cross U.S. Highway 2 in Airway Heights has died.
Donald R. Stamback, of Veradale, was pronounced dead Tuesday morning at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he was being treated for head injuries suffered in the July 11 crash, according to the Washington State Patrol.
Stamback was thrown 10 feet after being hit by a Pontiac Grand Am, which had stopped to let the man cross the highway but was hit from behind by a water truck and smashed forward.
Paramedics rushed Stamback to Sacred Heart Medical Center. He was then flown to Harborview.
The incident remains under investigation, and no charges or citations have been issued, said WSP spokesman Trooper Jim Hays.
Teen who built bomb accepts plea deal
A 15-year-old Lewis and Clark High School student who assembled a small explosive device in his bedroom accepted a plea bargain Wednesday that will spare him a criminal record if he successfully completes a six-month probation.
Connor A. Potucek had been charged with illegal possession of explosives, but he pleaded guilty Wednesday to disorderly conduct.
Spokane County Juvenile Court Judge Ellen Kalama Clark ordered Potucek to perform eight hours of community service, pay a $75 penalty and serve a six-month probation.
Potucek was expelled April 21 after school officials found bomb-making documents in his notebook. Police later searched Potucek’s bedroom and found a 16-ounce can of gunpowder and a small carbon dioxide cylinder that he had filled with gunpowder and fitted with a firecracker fuse.
Police said Potucek told them he had made napalm in the past. He was not accused of threatening anyone with his homemade explosives or of taking them to school.
Man says he took boss’s car, forgot to tell him
A Spokane man who says he was simply borrowing his boss’s car but forgot to tell him has been taken into custody on a charge of possessing stolen property.
Kyle L. Koontz, 35, 1216 N. Stout St., was arrested Tuesday morning after Spokane police Officer Ray Harding spotted a black Chevrolet Cavalier near Third Avenue and Altamont Street and ran the license plate. The check showed that the 1991 car had been reported stolen, police spokesman Dick Cottam said in a news release. Harding pulled over the car and questioned Koontz and a female passenger. When asked about the car, Koontz said his boss had offered him use of the car last week but Koontz had his own car and told the boss he didn’t need the Cavalier, Cottam said.
The day after the offer, Koontz said, his car broke down and he decided to get the Cavalier – but he forgot to mention it to his boss, according to Cottam’s report. Koontz added that he was too busy Monday to return the car.
Koontz’s companion, who was released, told Harding that she thought it was odd that Koontz didn’t need a key to start the Cavalier, Cottam said.
Omak Stampede gains new sponsors
Omak, Wash.When Wal-Mart and the makers of Crown Royal withdrew a total of $1,850 in sponsorship for the Omak Stampede and Suicide Race, the event at which 19 horses have died over 20 years gained six new sponsors whose contributions totaled more than $5,000.
The race sends 20 horses and riders down a steep hill, across the Okanogan River and into the Stampede arena. There are four races each year, at the conclusion of each day of the rodeo, set this year for Aug. 11-14.
Larry Hall, president of the United Food & Commercial Workers Union in Spokane, said grocery store employees from Omak and Okanogan called to ask for the union’s support of the race after Wal-Mart withdrew. “I realize there’s a horse killed once in a while,” he said, “but there’s probably a person killed once in a while too. It’s part of the culture of that area.”
Feds want to seize house at end of tunnel
Lynden, Wash.
Federal officials have moved to seize a house that was at one end of a tunnel from Canada that authorities say was used to move marijuana across the border.
The government initiated a civil forfeiture action. The government will have to prove the homeowners were involved in the crime to take possession of the unoccupied home, Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Whalley said. The owners must also respond to the government’s complaint to avoid forfeiture.
The Whatcom County Assessor’s Web site shows that the house in Lynden is owned by Raman L. and Kusum B. Patel. The Spokane County Assessor’s Web site indicates the same couple purchased a home in the Mead area in July 2003.