Citizens honored for saving life
Five citizens who were credited with saving a young girl’s life were honored by the Spokane Police Department this week.
A teenage girl tried to take her own life by jumping off the T.J. Meenach Bridge but was rescued before she could fall, said Spokane police Officer Teresa Fuller.
On Nov. 2, the girl had been at the Tamarack Center, police said. When she ran from the center, employees Andrea Smith, Mark Holmes and Jaime Amman chased her and grabbed her clothing just as she jumped off the bridge. Lee Galvez and Robert Colliton were passing by and stopped to help.
Cpl. Jon Strickland, who was first on scene after a 911 call, was also instrumental in the girl’s rescue, Fuller said.
The five residents were each given a letter of appreciation signed by Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, and they will also each receive appreciation letters from the department, Fuller said. Strickland was given a plaque.
Suspect arrested in hit-run crash
A 27-year-old man was booked into jail Thursday on suspicion of vehicular assault in a hit-and-run collision.
Police say Nathan Moulton fled on foot after his sport utility vehicle ran a red light at Maxwell and Washington shortly after midnight and struck a car at high speed. Police and state troopers searched the area and arrested Moulton. A passenger in the car was taken to a hospital with possible head, neck and shoulder injuries.
Avista will cut power for repairs
Avista Corp. said Thursday that it will cut power to approximately 900 customers in the Spangle and Rosalia areas Saturday to repair electricity transmission equipment. The outage is expected begin at 7 a.m. and last an hour.
Verdicts upheld in depot shootout
The state Court of Appeals on Thursday largely upheld the convictions of two men, both now 25, who led police on a chase that ended in a train depot shootout in January 2002.
The court said Jason Allen Graham was properly convicted of attempted first-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and first-degree possession of stolen property. He fired two dozen shots without hitting anyone before police shot him.
A three-judge panel upheld Jeremiah Justin Jones’ first-degree assault conviction but overturned his conviction for possession of stolen property for lack of evidence that he controlled the stolen vehicle Graham was driving.
Graham was sentenced to 102 years in prison; Jones, to 28 years.
RITZVILLE, Wash.
DNA tests fail to identify child
DNA tests have failed to establish the identify of a child whose skull was found last summer in a field by U.S. Highway 395, and Adams County Sheriff Douglas Barger hopes the FBI can do better.
Scientists at the health sciences laboratory of the University of North Texas in Fort Worth were unable to extract enough DNA from the bones, Barger said Wednesday.
A farmer found the skull in three pieces Aug. 12 in a field just south of this Eastern Washington town, and no other bone fragments were found despite an extensive search covering about 100 acres.
The bones had been damaged by field burning.
Investigators have said the skull might be from one of two missing children.