Police say death may be homicide
BOISE – Police said the death of an 8-year-old boy who was missing for more than a week before his body was found in a canal was not an accident.
Deputy Chief Jim Kerns said Wednesday Robert Manwill’s death is an active homicide investigation.
Kerns said there is no evidence the boy was abducted by a stranger.
The child reportedly disappeared July 24 after leaving his mother’s apartment in Boise. A passer-by called emergency workers Monday to report a body in the canal near Kuna about 1:30 p.m.
The boy was visiting his mother, who was previously convicted of hurting another child, the night he vanished.
His father, Charles Manwill, lives in New Plymouth and has had custody since 2008.
Excessive force lawsuit dismissed
A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought by a man who said a Post Falls police officer threw him to the ground.
U.S. District Judge Larry Burns wrote in his ruling Friday that Scott Carter failed to provide meaningful evidence that any of the key allegations in his case might be true.
In his lawsuit, Carter said the police officer used excessive force during a 2007 drunken driving stop, throwing him headfirst into the ground and causing permanent brain injuries.
But Burns said the officer only did what he had to do to arrest the uncooperative Carter, who had a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit.
Post Falls police Chief Scot Haug said the department was pleased, but not surprised, with the decision.
Neither Carter nor his attorney, Larry Purviance, could be reached for comment.
Nuclear generator shut off due to fire
RICHLAND – An electrical fault sparked a small fire at the region’s only commercial nuclear power plant, which automatically shut itself down.
Columbia Generating Station’s on-site fire crews extinguished the fire within 20 minutes Wednesday morning. Energy Northwest, the public power consortium that operates the plant, said the fire is believed to have started in an overhead tray that holds electrical cables in a separate building from the reactor building.
The utility said in a statement that the plant’s control room instrumentation indicated the location of the fire and that safety systems operated as designed.
The plant will remain offline until the investigation and repairs are complete.
Lightning strikes firefighting copter
MCCALL, Idaho – Four people were injured when lightning struck a firefighting helicopter in central Idaho while it was on the ground.
None of the employees of Siller Brothers Inc., a contract firefighting company, suffered life-threatening injuries in Tuesday evening’s incident, but they were transported to hospitals in the region for treatment.
The Sikorsky S64E skycrane helicopter was on a national contract with the Payette National Forest to help fight forest fires in the region.
The incident Tuesday at about 8:45 p.m. took place just as the four crew members were doing end-of-day maintenance.
Day hiker rescued after 200-foot fall
NORTH BEND, Wash. – A 73-year-old hiker from Santa Cruz, Calif., is being treated for his injuries at Harborview Medical Center after falling nearly 200 feet from the Pacific Crest Trail near North Bend.
King County Sheriff’s spokesman Travis DeFries says the man left early Tuesday morning on a solo day hike. At about 10 a.m., he slipped off the trail near the Kittitas County border and fell, suffering broken bones and other injuries to his head and spine.
DeFries said another hiker heard cries for help around 8 p.m. Tuesday. The hiker called 911 and built a fire to help rescuers find them.
The man’s name had not been released Wednesday. His condition had not been released by the hospital, but DeFries said he was badly injured.