Briefly

Woman charged with trying to steal SUV

Spokane police responded to a report Thursday night of a dozen people milling around a collision at Perry Street and Illinois Avenue involving two vehicles that hit electrical equipment.

After dispersing the crowd, officers were told by witnesses that a woman identified as 24-year-old Jessica E. Peterson had attempted to steal a Ford Explorer from the parking lot of a Zip-Trip convenience store, police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

The owner of the Explorer apparently tried to stop Peterson from driving away and was dragged a short distance in the street before Peterson crashed the Explorer into an electrical box, said Cottam.

Peterson’s friend, 22-year-old Jaycee R. Carrywater, apparently used his own car attempted to run over the man hanging onto the Explorer but hit a power pole instead, Cottam said.

Peterson was booked for attempting to steal the Explorer, Cottam said. Police say Peterson had drugs in her possession.

Carrywater was arrested on one count of first-degree robbery, he said.

A third person with Peterson and Carrywater, a 16-year-old boy, was found to have brass knuckles and was booked into Juvenile Detention on a charge of first-degree robbery. No one was injured, Cottam said.

Man allegedly assaults officer; police search home

Undercover detectives with the Spokane Police Department and the department’s SWAT team executed a search warrant early Friday at the home of a man who had earlier been arrested on charges of assaulting an officer and felony drug possession.

Officers stopped a car at Mission Avenue and Nettleton Street at 12:15 a.m. Friday. The passenger, 26-year-old Coby Cay Adams, was asked to get out of the car but refused to show his hands to officers, police spokesman Dick Cottam said in a press release.

Cottam did not indicate why the car had been stopped.

Officers started to handcuff Adams when he allegedly struck one officer in the face with a handcuff. Adams was taken into custody, and the officer required medical care for his cuts and bruises.

The SWAT team then entered Adams’ house at 2527 W. Mallon and found drugs and a handgun, Cottam said. Adams was booked into the Spokane County Jail on charges of possession of drugs with intent to deliver, third-degree assault on an officer and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Autopsy finds no foul play on woman in freezer

An autopsy of a woman found dead in a chest freezer Tuesday revealed no signs of foul play, police said Friday.

The post-mortem examination of 57-year-old Mary Lou Hass showed no signs of trauma and no obvious cause of death, Spokane police spokesman Dick Cottam said in a press release.

The cause of death will be listed as “unknown” until toxicology results are returned from the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory in several weeks, Cottam said. Hass had suffered from health problems in the past, Cottam said.

Hass’ caregiver, Noah D. McNamer, 59, has not been charged in connection with the discovery of the woman’s frozen body.

According to court records, McNamer walked up to the front desk in the Public Safety Building on Tuesday and told officers that Hass had died in her apartment last week at The Chateaux Apartments, 930 N. Washington.

Patrol officers checked the freezer and found the body.

“McNamer told Cpl. Muzatko that he decided to come to the police because he was so depressed about Hass dying,” Detective Mark Burbridge wrote in his report.

Capt. Bruce Roberts said McNamer had been taken to a local hospital for a mental evaluation.

Level III sex offender moves to West Plains

A man convicted of second-degree rape when he was in his teens has moved to the West Plains, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Michael C. Cottrell, 27, was convicted in 1992 of raping a 12-year-old boy.

He also was convicted in Benton County of communication with a minor for immoral purposes in 1998, said sheriff’s spokesman Dave Reagan. The victim in that case was a 13-year-old girl.

Cottrell is not wanted by the Sheriff’s Office. He is listed as a Level III sex offender, the group that law enforcement officials consider the most likely to commit more sex crimes.

Cottrell is 5 feet 11 and 172 pounds with hazel eyes and brown hair. He has moved to an address on North Rambo Road between state Highway 2 and Deno Road.

Spokane superintendent schedules online chat

Want to ask about school lunches? Wondering about the Washington Assessment for Student Leaning? Feel like praising your child’s teacher to the head honcho?

Spokane Public Schools Superintendent Brian Benzel will field questions from the general public in a live Internet chat from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday.

To submit a question, go to www.spokaneschools.org and click on the “Interview with the Superintendent” link.

Benzel will respond to as many questions as possible.

Similar chats will be scheduled throughout the year on the first Tuesday of each month.

Train hits walker-using man who fell on tracks

Sumner, Wash. A man with a walker who apparently fell on railroad tracks and couldn’t move was struck and killed by a train Friday.

Gus Melonas, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. spokesman, said the crew saw the man, blew its whistle and put on the emergency brake but could not stop in time. The man was struck about 7:30 a.m. at the Zender Street crossing.

Melonas said the crossing arms and warning lights were working. Investigators don’t know how long the man had been on the track.

Melonas said the train was traveling at less than the 50 mph speed limit when the man was first seen and about 10 mph on impact. The train consisted of two locomotives that were being moved from Auburn to Tacoma on the main line.

The track was closed for three hours.

Sumner police Lt. Wes Tucker said his department would not be able to identify the man or give any more details about the case until his family could be notified.

Studded tires become legal starting Monday

Olympia

Studded tires will be legal again on Washington highways Monday.

Studs will be permitted through March to help drivers on snowy and icy roads.

State transportation officials suggest all-weather tires as an alternative to studs, as they also provide good traction in snow, are legal year-round and don’t cause ruts in the state’s highways.

Poll finds Seattle voters oppose anti-monorail effort

Seattle In a recent poll, most city voters said they”d vote against a ballot measure to kill the planned 14-mile monorail, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Friday.

Fifty-two percent opposed Initiative 83, while 33 percent favored it and 15 percent remained undecided in the telephone poll of 400 Seattle residents.

The poll, commissioned by the P-I and KOMO’s television and radio divisions, has a margin of error of 5 percentage points. Mason-Dixon Polling & Research based in Washington, D.C., conducted the poll Monday and Tuesday.

I-83 would ban monorail construction on city streets. It would not prevent the Seattle Monorail Project from collecting the car-tab tax voters approved two years ago to fund the elevated West Seatte-to-Ballard line.