Jail staff not liable for inmate’s death
The staff of the Boundary County Jail has been cleared in the death of an inmate who overdosed on drugs, Prosecutor Jack Douglas announced Friday.
Dale Allen Young, 42, was arrested and booked into the jail at 11:36 p.m. June 24 on a charge of possession of methamphetamines after a traffic stop made by Bonners Ferry police, county officials said in a press release.
Young swallowed approximately a quarter-ounce of methamphetamine in a plastic wrapper in an attempt to prevent officers from finding it, according to the release. The wrapping, however, did not hold in his stomach. He was taken to a hospital by jail staff about two hours after his arrest.
Young’s family has accused the jail of deliberately taking too long to get him to the hospital. The Bonner County Daily Bee reported Saturday that Young’s brother and half-brother had hired an attorney and private investigator to look into whether jailers ignored Young’s pleas for medical help.
Young’s death was investigated by the Idaho State Police.
Missing woman, son found at health facility
A Spokane Valley woman and son reported missing Friday have been found.
Diana Tindell, 39, walked from her Spokane Valley home to pick up her 7-year-old son at Trentwood Elementary School on Friday afternoon, Lt. Earl Howerton said. She and her son left the school about 3:30 p.m. and were thought to be headed on foot to her mother’s home near Hawthorne Road and Division Street.
She was found in the care of a mental health facility about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Howerton said. Tindell and her son had taken a cab to the location.
Howerton said Tindell had received distressing news from a family member earlier in the day. Howerton said he could not discuss the nature of the information.
Man dies when four-wheeler crashes
A man was killed Saturday afternoon in a four-wheeler crash east of Harvard, Idaho, the Latah County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Ronald E. Lengacher Sr., 70, was traveling on a trail off Palouse River Road near Laird Park about 1 p.m. when the one-vehicle crash occurred, said Detective Jennifer L. McFarland in a press release.
Further details were unavailable.
Laundry room fire leads to jail evacuation
A fire forced the evacuation of inmates from their cells Saturday afternoon at the Spokane Juvenile Justice Center.
The blaze, which was confined to a laundry room, was the second fire in the last year at the justice center, which houses the jail, court and other criminal justice services for minors.
Firefighters were called to the building about 2:50 p.m. after center employees and parents visiting inmates noticed smoke.
The jail’s 51 inmates were evacuated to a walled, open-air area of the building.
Firefighters doused the blaze with an extinguisher upon their arrival, said Spokane Fire Battalion Chief Craig Cornelius.
Some smoke entered the detention area, and inmates were kept outside for about an hour and a half while smoke cleared, Crumley said.
The fire started in a commercial dryer and was contained to the room.