Region in brief: WSU assault reports recanted
Two of three alleged assaults on the Washington State University campus were reported by the same woman, and she has recanted both allegations.
On Tuesday, the WSU freshman recanted after telling police she had been sexually assaulted on campus the evening before. On Thursday, she recanted her statement about the first assault, which she told police happened Aug. 19 on Terrell Mall near Library Road, WSU police said.
Police continue to investigate a third assault that was reported to have occurred early Monday on Troy Lane on campus.
Anyone with information in that case is asked to call police at (509) 335-8548.
I-90 accident injures three
A 1-year-old girl and two adults were injured Thursday in a two-vehicle rollover crash on Interstate 90 near the Idaho state line.
Janis H. Simpson, 44, of Spokane, was eastbound on the interstate in a 2005 Toyota pickup about 1:25 p.m., when she stopped because of a pedestrian in the median, the Idaho State Police reported.
An eastbound 1999 Toyota Camry driven by Michael J. German, 27, of Spokane, didn’t see Simpson’s truck stop and slammed into the back of the truck, causing both vehicles to overturn, the ISP said.
German and his two passengers, Jacinta M. German, 23, and the child were taken to Kootenai Medical Center, where they were treated and released, said a hospital spokeswoman.
The pedestrian who had stopped in the median left the scene of the accident, the ISP said.
Stabbing witnesses sought
Spokane police are looking for anyone who was in the area of Lincoln Street and Indiana Avenue about 2 a.m. Aug. 15.
William “Billy” O. Floyd, 22, was fatally stabbed on the street corner behind a McDonald’s that night. No one has been arrested.
Potential witnesses include a woman in the McDonald’s parking lot who said she didn’t have a cell phone and drove off when a witness asked for help, and a man in a white car who tried to give first aid.
Detectives urge them or anyone else who was around at the time to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS or submit tips online at www.crimestoppersinland northwest.org.
Car seat event Saturday
A free child car seat safety check is being offered Saturday at the Airway Heights Wal-Mart from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Older car seats can be recycled at the event through a partnership between the county’s child passenger safety team and FedEx, according to Spokane police Officer Teresa Fuller.
Materials in seats deteriorate over time; seats typically last six years, Fuller said.
‘Obama tags’ called a joke
BOISE – An Idaho Republican gubernatorial hopeful insists he was only joking when he said he’d buy a license to hunt President Barack Obama.
Rex Rammell, a long-shot candidate slated to run against incumbent Butch Otter in the May 2010 GOP primary, made the comment at a Republican rally Tuesday in Twin Falls where talk turned to the state’s planned wolf hunt, for which hunters must purchase an $11.50 wolf tag. The hunt is due to begin Tuesday.
When an audience member shouted a question about “Obama tags,” Rammell responded, “The Obama tags? We’d buy some of those.”
Rammell told the Associated Press on Thursday he sees no reason to apologize because the comment was just a joke.
“What I would say to all my Democrat Idahoans: Take a deep breath and relax,” he said. “We’re not going to go out and hunt Obama.”
Threatening the president can be a felony punishable by five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.