Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The employee who died after an explosion yesterday at a Maytown fireworks company is identified as 75-year-old Bill Hill, a Thurston County resident.

In a statement issued yesterday, Entertainment Fireworks Inc.’s vice president of operations Ken Julian extended the business’s heartfelt sympathy to family and friends.

He called it a tragic accident affecting a small company that’s like a family.

“When something like this happens, it is devastating,” Julian stated. “We have been in business more than 16 years and nothing like this has ever happened as safety is our number one priority and we pride ourselves on our highly qualified staff.”

Two others, including an owner, were injured. A 25-year-old male employee was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and a 52-year-old man with a burned hand went to an Olympia hospital.

Early information from the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office was that Hill died enroute to Harborview, but Thurston County Coroner Gary Warnock said today Hill died at the scene – from inhalation of combustible materials –  as he was being prepared for transport.

It happened just before 10 a.m. at the front of an outbuilding on the 13000 block of Reeder Road. A witness said he heard and saw what he estimated were about 15 commercial fireworks explode at about roof level of the buildings.

Julien indicated shells were being prepared for shipping. A fire department spokesperson said she understood workers were inserting what she called electronic matches.

The company produces fireworks shows, and according to its website has 21 explosives storage buildings at the site.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Labor and Industries said the business has not had any safety complaints, incidents or inspections for a number of years and its storage facilities are properly licensed by L&I.

It is the only work-related fatality involving fireworks in the state in decades, L&I spokesperson Elaine Fischer said.

They have begun investigating the incident, but may not be able to finish until after a report is completed by the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. ATF is the lead investigating agency, Fischer said.

Airlift Northwest takes off with a patient headed to Harborview Medical Center. / Courtesy photo by West Thurston Regional Fire Authority

Updated at 1:39 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Three employees at a fireworks manufacturing company were injured this morning, one fatally, by an explosion and fire in Maytown, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies and firefighters were dispatched just before 10 o’clock to the incident at the 13000 block of Reeder Road; it happened at the front of an outbuilding belonging to the business, sheriff’s Lt. Greg Elwin said.

A witness who was doing work with a friend outside a house across the street said he heard about 15 commercial mortars. It went on for perhaps 20 seconds, 33-year-old Eathon Wesen of Napavine said.

“All the sudden there was like, boom, boom, boom,” Wesen said. “We looked over there, you could see fireworks going off like at ground level; well, about 10 to 12 feet in the air.”

A 74-year-old man was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, but  died enroute, according to the sheriff’s office. Two males were taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia.

One of them, age 25, subsequently was flown to Harborview, according to Elwin. The third victim is a 52-year-old man with a burned hand, he said.

A spokesperson for West Thurston Regional Fire Authority said workers were inserting detonators into firework displays, to be used at a future event.

The fire chief was at a meeting at the station at the intersection of Maytown and Reeder roads, heard explosions and called 911 then responded, Lt. Lanette Dyer said.

Deputies have secured the scene and conducted an initial investigation, and are now waiting for investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm as well as the state Department of Labor and Industries according to Elwin.

Numerous employees are on the scene, he said. The company is Entertainment Fireworks, he said.

Elwin described the injuries as burns and concussion injuries.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Tacoma teen originally from Nigeria experiencing camping for the first time drowned in the Chehalis River over the weekend.

Linsey Mike was 17 years old.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said the young man had only been in Washington for eight months.

Rescuers were called about 3:20 p.m. on Saturday to an area near the falls, by the entrance to Rainbow Falls State Park, approximately12 miles west of Chehalis but didn’t recover his body until yesterday morning.

Mike was camping with a group of friends at the park when they all decided to go swimming in the river, according to responders.

The sheriff’s office said Mike told his friends he was not a good swimmer and one of them told him not to jump in the water, but he did.

“One witness said when he surfaced from the jump, he looked panic stricken and began flailing his arms,” the sheriff’s office stated in a news release. “The witness, a 19 year old female, jumped in to save him but he was flailing his arms so much that she was unable to make contact before he quickly went under water and did not resurface.”

The falls are not tall, but the water is cold and the current is swift.

Members of fire districts in Pe Ell and Dryad-Doty, along with the sheriff’s office swift water rescue team and a diver from Thurston County responded on Saturday afternoon and returned yesterday morning.

His body was found in the same area where he went under, the sheriff’s office said.

It’s the second river drowning in the county in recent weeks and the third drowning locally this spring.

Sheriff Steve Mansfield took the opportunity to issue a statement noting that 90 percent of water-related fatalities could be prevented by wearing life jackets or some type of flotation device, something especially important for those who aren’t good swimmers.

Updated

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Responders are looking for a 17-year-old Tacoma boy in the Chehalis River at Rainbow Falls State Park.

He and his friends had been camping and decided to swim near the falls when he went under, came up flailing and was pulled under again, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Fire Chief Tim Kinder said he responded with a thermal imaging camera to assist but the current was too swift.

The initial call came about 3:20 p.m.

“My understanding is another teen grabbed a hold of him, but was not able to hold on,” Kinder said.

A diver was on the way to the scene about 6 p.m.

The swift water rescue team from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has been searching and are still out there this evening, sheriff’s office Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said at about 8 p.m.

More to come as information becomes available.

Update Sunday June 15, 2014: The young man’s body was recovered this morning in the same area where he went under, a teen originally from Nigeria, only in Washington for eight months on his first-ever camping trip, according to the sheriff’s office.

Lewis County Fire Districts 16 and 11 along with the sheriff’s office swift water rescue team and a diver from Thurston County reconvened this morning after a search last night that went until dark, according to Brown.

••

CORRECTION: This has been updated to correct an error made in relating a statement made by Chief Kinder.

Tyson Anderson holds his then-3-year-old daughter Kaylee at an Easter egg hunt a week before he died.

Updated

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 36-year-old Chehalis man who police believe sold some heroin to last year to a Centralia man who died of a drug overdose that night, was ordered held yesterday on $200,000 bail.

Robert T. Lusk was already in the Lewis County Jail when he was arrested on Monday for controlled substance homicide.

He is blamed for the death on April 22, 2013 of 23-year-old Tyson J. Anderson in Centralia.

Anderson had been staying with his girlfriend at an apartment on the 500 block of Iron Street. Before that, he lived for a short time at a place called the Funny Farm – a sober living home – in south Lewis County, according to Ashlee Harris, the mother of his now 4-year-old daughter.

He was an awesome person, Harris said of the young man she was with from the time they were 16 years old until about a year before he died.

“There’s more to him than just that,” she said of the drug overdose. “That’s not him.

Anderson was the designated barbecuer at family get togethers, he enjoyed bow hunting with his many relatives, and worked as a mechanic, she said.

“People don’t understand that it’s a disease,” Harris said. “I want the fact that he was an amazing father, an amazing son, an amazing friend to define who he was; not the mistakes he made.”

Harris had little to say about his drug use, saying it’s a sensitive topic for Anderson’s family and she didn’t want to add to their grief or upset.

But he had apparently been trying to quit using and he managed to get into Lewis County Drug Court, an alternative for some people arrested for drug crimes.

He was in phase one of the program, so relatively new, according to the program’s manager, Jennifer Soper-Baker.

“Tragic situation,” Soper-Baker said.

When police were called just before 2 o’clock that morning about a possible drug overdose, they found an unconscious male later identified as Anderson. Arriving medics worked on him, but he was pronounced dead a short time later, according to authorities.

Centralia police came to learn that Anderson and his girlfriend Sarah McCutcheon had gone to dinner at Country Cousin, where Anderson had made a brief phone call or sent a text to arrange to buy them some heroin, according to charging documents.

McCutcheon told police after they got home, they each injected some and then went to Wal-Mart, eventually returning home where they injected more, charging documents state.

“McCutcheon stated after she was injected the second time, she passed out,” the documents relate. “And when she awoke, she was laying on top of Anderson who was unresponsive.”

She was confused and nervous, so she called 911 and then cleaned up the apartment by hiding the drugs, she told police.

Anderson’s cause of death is listed as acute opiate (heroin) intoxication, following injection.

Exactly why he died or why it killed him isn’t known, according to the Centralia Police Department.

There’s a variety of reasons it happens, more often than not because an individual is exposed to a more potent dose than they’re accustomed to, detective Sgt. Pat Fitzgerald said.

Perhaps they’ve gotten it from a new supplier who has cut it, diluted it, differently, or less than expected, Fitzgerald said.

“There’s a myriad of reasons,” he said. “In this case, we don’t know.”

Fitzgerald said this is the third or fourth case of controlled substance homicide for the department, indicating it’s a charge some other agencies may or may not pursue as aggressively. For example, he said, the Bellevue Police Department only last year had their first case, even though it’s unlikely that city has never before had a fatal drug overdose.

Controlled substance homicide doesn’t have anything to do with forcibly making another person ingest drug, according to Lewis County Senior Prosecutor Will Halstead.

Prosecutors need only prove the person delivered it, the other person used it and then the other person died from it, Halstead said.

The offense has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, except for defendants who have certain previous drug convictions, the maximum time is 20 years.

Centralia police measured the distance between the apartment parking lot and a school bus stop as 517 feet, suggesting a possible more lengthy sentence if Lusk is convicted. Lusk was also charged with delivery of a controlled substance.

Centralia police investigated the for many months following Anderson’s death, questioning his girlfriend numerous times.

According to charging documents, they learned a person named Robert had shown up in the apartment’s parking lot in a greenish Ford Explorer after Anderson got a text from the drug dealer that night.

McCutcheon said she saw it from the apartment window and that Robert was known as a white supremacist who her boyfriend had had issues with in the past.

DNA testing on the wrapping from the heroin was matched to Anderson.

Two phone numbers on Anderson’s Blackberry cell phone were found as being used during the timeframe McCutcheon had outlined to police. One of them belonged to one of his longtime friends and the friend was ruled out.

The other remained a mystery until February when police were speaking with a person who knew Lusk on an unrelated matter. Police discovered that back around the time of Anderson’s death, Lusk had been using a phone that matched the mystery number.

Police also found that Lusk owned a blue Ford Explorer and has a tattoo on his inner bicep that reads “WP”, which officers understand to be an abbreviation for “White Power.”

Harris said she knew a detective was working hard on the case, but was surprised to learn an arrest was made. She attended the hearing yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court with Anderson’s sister.

“We’re thankful, we’re happy, but it’s also opening up a bunch of wounds,” she said.

Lusk has been in the Lewis County Jail for some time, in connection with driving with a suspended license, according to his temporary defense attorney Bob Schroeter. He is wanted in Thurston County, in connection with another instance of the same offense, Schroeter said.

He hasn’t worked and has no income so he qualified for a court-appointed lawyer.

His arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Jonathan P. Brown heads back down to the jail after pleading guilty to attempted murder.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 26-year-old Centralia man pleaded guilty this morning to two counts of attempted murder, in connection with setting a fire in his home while his mother and grandfather were sleeping earlier this year.

Jonathan P. Brown admitted to a detective to starting a fire in his bedroom, opening a window to help it “breathe” and then heading down the street planning to ignite more fires until he was caught, according to charging documents. But his lighter broke and police found and detained him that morning.

Today’s action came out of a plea agreement finalized late last week, Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead said. Halstead said the details would come at sentencing, which hasn’t yet been scheduled.

The standard sentencing range for Brown, given his criminal history, is roughly 20 to 32 years.

Brown has spent time in prison before for arson.

In 2009, the then-21-year-old pleaded guilty to a string of six fires and attempted fires in the Centralia area that caused or could have caused damage to buildings including a residence and a garage. He was sentenced to four and half years.

He is represented by defense attorney Don Blair.

The damage on March 23 to the family home on the 3400 block of Prill Road was limited to the bedroom.

Charging documents alleged that he doused his bed and pillows with lamp oil. His 87-year-old grandfather John Germeau and his mother were able to get out, but his mother Deborah Brown suffered burns on her hand or hands smothering burning pillows.

Brown has been held in the Lewis County Jail on $250,000 bail since his arrest. His initial charge was first-degree arson.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler this morning accepted Brown’s pleas and modified the conditions of release to a no-bail hold.

No family or friends were present in the courtroom.

Brown is expected back in court on Thursday to set a date for sentencing.
•••

For background, read “Prosecutors: Arsonist planned to continue lighting fires after leaving his burning bedroom” from Monday March 24, 2014, here

Police and aid respond about 3:45 p.m. to the accident on Summa Street in Centralia. / Courtesy photo by Mary Orlik

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – Two people escaped with only minor injuries when their small pickup truck collided with an Amtrak train in Centralia this afternoon.

Firefighters and police responding about 3:45 p.m. to the crossing on Summa Street near South Tower Avenue found the vehicle on its driver’s side, having struck the signal pole on the west side of the tracks.

“I’ve heard a lot of wrecks here, but nothing like this,” Centralia resident Ken Peck said.

Peck said he was outside his home a block away talking with a buddy and the sound of the impact was thunderous. He looked over and saw a pickup flipping through the air, he said.

“The train literally lifted it up and it did a twist like that,” Peck said as he described the path of the older Datsun pickup moving his hands over his head in an arc.

Centralia Police Department Officer Patricia Finch said the female driver failed to stop for the crossing arms.

The driver, a 40-year-old Chehalis woman, was headed east across Summa and hit by the southbound train, according to Finch.

“A BNSF train had just passed in the other direction, to my understanding,” Finch said.

The male passenger got himself out, and he along with bystanders helped the woman out of the truck, according to Finch.

“I thought she was dead, her arms were hanging out the window,” Peck said. But she wasn’t.

Peck said they tried to sit the couple down away from the tracks, but the man left.

Police located him a few blocks to the north, and learned he was wanted on two outstanding warrants. The 54-year-old Chehalis man was taken to the hospital by a police officer to be checked out, before he could be booked into jail, according to Finch.

The driver was transported by ambulance to Providence Centralia Hospital as well.

Finch said the 1984 Datsun pickup was totaled, with most of its damage to the front on the driver’s side.

Rail traffic was stopped for at least 45 minutes. BNSF is conducting its own investigation, Finch said.

Peck said it’s a crossing that needs more safety features to prevent drivers who seem to often try to beat the trains.

He got the impression the woman waited for the freight train to pass northbound, but was impatient for the crossing arms to rise, and drove around them.

“Even when she got out of the truck, she was saying, ‘I didn’t see the Amtrak’,” he said.

Datsun pickup is hauled away after it met up with a train in Centralia. / Courtesy photo by Janet Stacy