Robbers use gun to threaten North Side couple at home

A North Side couple were robbed in their home late Saturday afternoon by four people armed with a gun, Spokane Police said.

The group knocked on the door of the home on North Five Mile Road about 5:45 p.m., said police spokesman Dick Cottam in a press release.

The husband answered the door and was confronted by two men and two women, Cottam said. One of the men pointed a handgun at the husband and wife.

The group disabled the couple’s home phone and stole charge cards, a wallet, a cell phone and watch, Cottam said. The four, who remained in the house for about 30 minutes, fled on foot.

While investigating similar crimes last month, police said home-invasion robberies are extremely dangerous and rare. Detectives later arrested four people in connection with those robberies, which occurred in Spokane and Kootenai counties.

The man with the gun was described as white, in his 30s or 40s and 5 feet 10 with dark, shoulder-length hair and blue eyes.

Police ask that anyone with information on the case call 242-8477.

Police say man hit woman with car

A Spokane man was arrested Friday after he allegedly struck his ex-girlfriend with his car, Spokane Police said.

The woman suffered leg injuries and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, said police spokesman Dick Cottam.

Officers were called to the 5400 block of North A Street about 8 p.m. Friday after the 28-year-old victim had been hit in a parking lot.

Police arrested Ian M. Harris, 33. Police said he called his ex-girlfriend’s cell phone and told her he was in the area, Cottam said.

She went to the parking lot to look for him and saw his car coming toward her, Cottam said. The vehicle struck a parked Mustang and then her and left the scene.

Officers later found Harris at a home at 3824 E. Broad Ave., Cottam said.

Harris told officers that he did not remember hitting the victim, but did hit the Mustang, which he claimed was owned by someone who had stolen a car from him, Cottam said.

House to block U.S. 395 traffic

A moving company will be trucking a house on U.S. 395 Monday, blocking all lanes on a portion of the highway for about two hours.

The move is scheduled to start at about 9 a.m. at Half Moon Road and will end 3.5 miles later near Dennison-Chattaroy Road.

Northbound traffic will be detoured on Monroe Road to Staley Road and back to the highway. Southbound traffic will use the same detour in reverse.

Reward offered for theft suspect

A cash reward is being offered for information that leads to the arrest of a woman wanted on a drug and a stolen property charge.

Robin K. Tracy, 42, has more than two dozen convictions for various crimes including theft and burglary. She is wanted on warrants accusing her of possession of a controlled substance and possession of stolen property.

Tracy is 5 feet 6 and 140 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes.

Anyone with information on Tracy’s whereabouts can contact Secret Witness at 327-5111. Callers do not have to give their names to be eligible for the reward.

State giving away historic bridge

Kalispell

The Montana Department of Transportation is looking for someone who wants to adopt, move and use a 79-ton steel bridge over the Flathead River east of Kalispell.

The Old Steel Bridge, built in 1894 by the Gillette-Herzog Manufacturing Co., was the first steel bridge to cross the upper Flathead River.

“Before it was built, people had to take ferries across the river,” said Jon Axline, department historian.

The state agency is giving the bridge away, and throwing in $50,000 for moving costs, to someone who will use it and maintain it, at least for a reasonable period of time.

“We’re not going to pay someone to cut it up for scrap,” said Kent Barnes, with the department’s bridge bureau. “The new owner has to have a plan for taking ownership and maintaining its historical integrity.”

Anyone interested in adopting the Old Steel Bridge can contact Barnes at (406) 444-6260. The deadline is June 15.

If no qualified groups are located, the bridge will be removed by the general contractor when the new bridge is built. The Old Steel Bridge can handle just one vehicle at a time on the 500-foot span.

“It will become the contractor’s property and will undoubtedly be cut up for scrap,” Barnes said.