In brief: Pines Road hit-and-run leads to arrest of man

A man was arrested Friday morning and was being charged with driving under the influence and hit-and-run after an incident in the area of Pines Road and Desmet Avenue in Spokane Valley.

A release from the Washington State Patrol said Andrew Gardner, 21, was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Gardner was driving north on Pines on the left side of the road just before 6 a.m. and struck the side of a northbound vehicle in the right lane, the release said. Gardner then lost control of his pickup, went off the road and struck an electrical pole. He was wearing a seat belt.

The driver of the other vehicle, a Chevrolet Cobalt, was not injured.

KHQ reported witnesses said the pickup was going upward of 100 mph.

After the crash, Gardner fled on foot before WSP officers apprehended him, the release said.

Power lines were down across Pines Road, and power was out to about 280 customers.

Train fatally strikes man lying in right of way

WAPATO, Wash. – A Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway spokesman said a 41-year-old Wapato, Wash., man was struck and killed Friday afternoon by a freight train in Wapato, south of Yakima.

The crew of the local freight train sounded their whistle and applied the emergency brakes but could not avoid the man lying in the train’s right of way.

The man’s name was not released.