Police seek man who approached boy

Post Falls police are asking for help to apprehend a man who tried to abduct a 9-year-old boy Tuesday afternoon.

The boy was walking down the street in the northwest neighborhood of Pioneer Ridge about 4 p.m. when a man drove up beside him, according to police.

The man allegedly told the boy to “get in the pickup before I hurt you,” according to police.

The boy ran down the street and hid behind a parked car, Lt. Greg Mclean said.

When the driver left, the boy fled and reported the threat to his older sister, who called police, Mclean said.

The man drove close enough to the boy that he was able to look inside the cab and see what the man was wearing – blue jeans, possibly a red tank-top and a black baseball hat with blue stripes and writing.

The man was white and in his mid-30s and may have had brown hair. He had a full beard and mustache that was brown and gray, according to police.

He was also wearing older-style tinted glasses and had a dragon tattoo on his right bicep.

The truck was described as a small, older rusted red pickup with bucket seats.

The license plate was decorated with mountains and trees and possibly had the letters I and L in it.

The police ask that anyone with information regarding the suspect to call (208) 773-3517 or access the Post Falls Police Department’s anonymous tip page under “detectives” at www.postfallspolice.com.

2-year-old boy found after wandering away

Volunteers, search dogs and a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter were called into service Wednesday after a toddler got lost in a northern Spokane County woods, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office reported.

The 2-year-old boy, Drake Erickson, had been with his mother, who was pulling up carpet in the family’s mobile home in the 34000 block of North Dunn Road, sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan wrote in a press release.

The boy left the home through a sliding door and wandered into the woods about 10:30 a.m. with the family’s Labrador retriever and a neighbor’s malamute-husky mix.

The family called authorities about noon.

Relatives of Drake, members of the family’s church and several volunteers from the Spokane City/County Search and Rescue team looked for the boy.

Drake was found by members of the Erickson’s church about 5:20 p.m. after they spotted the dogs, which led them to Drake.

The boy, who was calm and sitting on a log when he was located, was tired but had no injuries, Reagan said.

Three found guilty of attack on gay man

Seattle Three Whatcom County men were convicted Wednesday of felony malicious harassment and assault in an attack on a gay Seattle man last June.

Vadim Samusenko, 21, David Kravchenko, 20, and Yevgeniy Savchak, 18, were convicted in King County Superior Court in a June 27, 2004, attack on Micah Painter.

Samusenko was convicted of two counts of second-degree assault; Kravchenko and Savchak were each convicted of fourth-degree assault for being accomplices.

Prosecutors had charged all three with first-degree assault.