Small plane crashes into power lines
A single-engine plane crashed into power lines Tuesday while attempting an emergency landing, knocking out power to about 1,600 homes and leaving the two people aboard with minor cuts and scrapes, authorities said.
The plane came down about 2:30 p.m. on Steamboat Island Road Northwest near Gravelly Beach Road about five miles northwest of Olympia, Thurston County sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy said.
Stuart Smith, 65, and Kitty Smith, 52, of Camano Island, Wash., were treated at the scene and taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital as a precaution.
Spokane
Driver arrested after bicyclist hit
A bicyclist will have to wear a back brace for several months after a hit-and-run accident near Manito Park just before midnight Monday, according to a Spokane police news release.
The 26-year-old hospital employee, whose name was unavailable, suffered fractured vertebrae when a Ford hit the woman’s bicycle near 16th Avenue and Grand Boulevard. A police officer who heard the collision tended to the victim while witnesses followed the truck as it drove off, the release states.
Authorities located a weaving pickup at 32nd Avenue and Arthur Street. Jillian M. Hernandez, 25, was booked into Spokane County Jail for vehicular assault, a felony, according to the release. Alcohol was a factor, police said.
The victim was not wearing a helmet.
WALLA WALLA
Officer accused of molesting teen girl
A Walla Walla police officer was arrested Tuesday amid allegations he had a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old girl in his patrol car while on duty.
Raymond M. Clayton, 38, a department officer since 2000, was booked into the Walla Walla County Jail for investigation of third-degree child molestation. He was later released without bail by Walla Walla Superior Court Judge Robert Zagelow pending filing of formal charges.
Prosecutor Jim Nagle said the case, investigated by the Kennewick Police Department, will be turned over to the state attorney general’s office to avoid conflicts of interest.
Walla Walla Police Chief Chuck Fulton said the arrest grew out of an investigation into allegations that Clayton, who is married, was involved in inappropriate conduct with as many as five women while working night patrols several years ago.
During their investigation, Kennewick police detectives learned of an encounter with a 15-year-old girl in Clayton’s patrol vehicle in a church parking lot sometime around April 2002, according to a police report.
Clayton was placed on paid leave July 24.
SEATTLE
Women found shot in cemetery identified
Two women found shot in a Seattle cemetery in what police say was an apparent homicide-suicide have been identified.
They were Doris Collingwood, 92, and Diane Collingwood, 60, the King County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
Authorities say Diane Collingwood picked up her mother at a Lynnwood assisted-living center on July 24 and took her to Evergreen-Washelli Cemetery. Police think that after parking at the cemetery, Diane Collingwood shot her mother in the head and then turned the gun on herself.
The medical examiner’s office has ruled the older woman’s death a homicide. An investigator said the younger woman died Sunday at Harborview Medical Center of a handgun wound to the head.