Officials say Jeep was in hit-and-run
Spokane County sheriff’s investigators have determined that a red Jeep confiscated from a Greenacres home last week is the same Jeep that killed a 14-year-old Central Valley High School student in a Nov. 23 hit-and-run crash.
Rick Gomez was killed while crossing Flora Road with friends.
Evidence collected at the scene of that crash matched damage on the 1991 Jeep Cherokee Laredo confiscated from inside a garage at 17408 E. Mansfield Ave., said Spokane County sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Reagan.
Reagan said pieces of the Jeep at the scene look to be matches to pieces missing from the Jeep detectives examined.
So far no arrests have been made in the case, said Reagan.
A couple lives at the address where the Jeep was found.
Sheriff’s detectives have a surveillance tape from a convenience store near the crash that shows a man and woman in a red Jeep. The male driver is shown in that tape stepping out to examine the front of the vehicle.
– Amy Cannata
Driver ticketed after hitting pedestrians
A couple was injured Friday morning when the driver of a pickup truck hit them exiting a parking lot on Sullivan Road.
Marcia D. Belles-Mumford, 51, was pulling out of the parking lot near the Shari’s Restaurant at 320 N. Sullivan at about 10 a.m. when she hit the 74-year-old man and his 70-year-old wife.
According to a release from Spokane Valley police, Belles-Mumford can be seen on surveillance video from a nearby business, stopping at the sidewalk but failing to look in the direction of the pedestrians after she had to wait for traffic to pass.
The pedestrians sustained cuts and bruises, but did not have to be hospitalized. Belles-Mumford was given a ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian.
– Amy Cannata
SPOKANE
Geiger officer accused of assaulting co-worker
A Geiger Corrections officer was arrested after he held a knife to another officer’s groin during a dispute over a shift change, officials said Friday.
Jesus A. Garcia, 30, was booked into Spokane County Jail on a second-degree assault charge, said Sgt. Dave Reagan, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. Garcia has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation.
Garcia and the other officer had discussed for several days what shifts they would work, sometimes in a heated manner, Reagan said. Garcia has two weeks seniority over the other officer.
On Friday, the two engaged in the discussion again. Reagan said Garcia used a multipurpose tool with a knife to threaten the other officer. After a few seconds, Garcia removed the weapon and the officer reported the incident.
The other officer was also placed on paid leave pending an investigation, Reagan said.
– Jody Lawrence Turner
TUMWATER, Wash.
Avista fined $23,900 for deadly fall at school
Avista Utilities will pay $23,900 in fines for safety violations in the fatal fall of a line worker who was helping a teacher conduct a grade-school science experiment in Othello, a company spokeswoman said Friday.
The biggest fine imposed by the state Department of Labor and Industries was $8,800 for failing to ensure that employees working on a boom lift wear the required safety equipment. Spokane-based Avista also was penalized $4,400 for inadequate training to operate the boom lift truck, and the same amount for failing to ensure the gear was inspected. The remaining $6,300 was in two fines for lack of adequate training.
Robert D. Smith, 50, of Othello, died and a teacher, Melissa Martinez, was treated for broken vertebrae after a bucket connected to the boom arm fell 20 to 30 feet on May 31 outside Hiawatha Elementary School.
Smith and Martinez were taking part in a science experiment in which students make protective egg cases that are tested by being dropped from various heights.
– Associated Press