Man found injured under I-90 overpass
A man with severe head injuries was found lying on the street just north of Lewis and Clark High School early Saturday morning.
A citizen called 911 at about 1:45 a.m. to report the victim, who was under the I-90 overpass on Wall Street between Third and Fourth avenues, police said. The caller left the scene before investigators could talk to him. The Spokane Police Department is asking that he re-contact 911.
Police are also asking anyone with information about this incident to call 911.
The man, whom police declined to name because his relatives are still being notified, was reported in critical condition Saturday night.
Lincoln County fire contained at 5,414 acres
The Wall Lake brush fire in Lincoln County was contained Saturday, after burning 5,414 acres, three hunting-type cabins, several outbuildings, one barn and one unoccupied single-wide trailer house, said fire officials.
A small group of firefighters is staying overnight in the area, which is 15 miles southwest of Davenport, and will walk the 13-mile perimeter this morning to make sure the fire is completely out, said Clifton Mehaffey of the Spokane Valley Fire Department, one of several agencies that fought the blaze.
The fire started on private property near Wall Lake on Wednesday morning and spread mostly to Department of Fish and Wildlife land.
All roads that had been closed have been reopened, officials said Saturday.
Teen driver cited after crashing into parked semi
A 17-year-old was cited for inattentive driving after crashing head-on into a parked semitruck early Saturday morning.
Cassandra M. Maier, of Spokane, was driving westbound on SH-53 near Stateline when she fell asleep, crossed the centerline and hit the truck at about 1:15 a.m., according to the Idaho State Police.
She was taken to Kootenai Medical Center emergency room and later released Saturday.
Reward offered for gun possession suspect
A reward is being offered by Secret Witness for information leading to the arrest of Spencer Dassow.
Dassow, 24, whose nickname is “Sweaty,” is wanted by federal authorities on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
His criminal file includes convictions of assaults on law enforcement officers, burglary, drugs and riot with a deadly weapon.
Dassow, of Spokane, is a 6-foot-3, 215-pound black male with black hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information can call Secret Witness at 327-5111. Callers are asked to use a code name or number and do not have to give their own name to be eligible for the reward.
Third drowning victim found in Cle Elum River
Salmon La Sac, Wash. Searchers on Saturday recovered the body of a Seattle man who drowned in the Cle Elum River, a day after removing the bodies of a father and daughter who also were caught in whirling currents.
The body of Robert Mack, 45, was found Saturday afternoon by authorities searching the river’s China Falls area, near a popular campground.
The bodies of Michael Templin and his 14-year-old daughter, Taylor, both of nearby Ronald, were recovered from the river Friday night.
Kittitas County Undersheriff Clayton Myers said Michael Templin, 37, dove in when the girl became caught in a whirlpool. But he also got sucked under, and Mack apparently jumped in to attempt to help.
The whirlpool under the falls has strong currents that can pin swimmers underwater, Myers said Saturday.
“It just simply cycles you back around and back to the bottom,” he told KING-TV.
Man shot by ranger at Crater Lake identified
Crater Lake, Ore. A camper shot by a ranger this week in Crater Lake National Park’s most popular campground was identified Friday as 38-year-old Ronn Ward.
Ward was shot twice Wednesday night after he rushed with a club at a ranger in the Mazama Campground, said park spokesman Mac Brock. Ward’s hometown was not immediately named by authorities, but a Jeep with California plates was at his campsite.
Brock said the club looked like a shillelagh, a gnarled piece of wood 2 to 3 feet long that had been worked by hand and coated with a finish.
According to authorities and witnesses, Ward was yelling obscenities and banging around his campsite Wednesday night during the evening campfire lecture in the Mazama Campground, which was filled with 424 campers.
When two park rangers came to talk to him, he asked if they wanted to die, then rushed at them with a wooden club. When a cloud of pepper spray did not stop him, one of the rangers shot him twice and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The campsite remained cordoned off by rangers and crime scene tape Friday, Brock said. The investigation was looking into whether a crime was committed, and whether rangers acted properly using deadly force.