Payout for injured boy approved

The Spokane City Council on Tuesday approved a $942,000 settlement with a family after a 2004 traffic accident at an unmarked intersection left a 6-year-old boy badly injured.

On March 18, 2004, a flatbed truck carrying lumber was northbound on Pittsburg Street and passing through an intersection without stop signs or signals at Lyons Avenue when it collided with a small four-door car that was eastbound on Lyons, police said.

The boy, Aspen Tichey, suffered head injuries that resulted in a need for lifelong care as well as loss of potential income. Police at the time said the stretch of Lyons Avenue from Nevada to Crestline streets is a trouble spot because people routinely speed down the street, which had no controlled intersections. There was an allegation in the case that the city should put a stop sign at the intersection where the crash occurred, city officials said.

The civil claim was brought by Rachell Johnston and Adam Tichey as parents and guardians of Aspen Tichey against the city, Stock Building Supply West, doing business as Evergreen Lumber, and others. The city was left with liability under state law making defendants jointly responsible.