Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Centralia police were called to the parking lot at Jack-in-the-Box last night where an individual was found dead inside a vehicle.

Officers responding about 10:40 p.m. to the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue learned the four-door passenger car had been parked there for a couple of days, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Foul play is not suspected, but police are investigating, according to Sgt. Stacy Denham.

The deceased is described only as a male; police know who he is, Denham said.

“There were no signs of a struggle, and he appeared to have just been taking a nap and passed,” Denham said.

An autopsy is expected.

Updated at 11:52 a.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Another Lewis County sheriff’s deputy has been arrested for driving under the influence.

Sheriff Steve Mansfield in a news release this morning says he is extremely embarrassed and disappointed.

Deputy Christopher P. Fulton, 31, of Napavine, was off duty when he was stopped by a trooper just before 1 a.m. on Saturday on Interstate 5 near Centralia’s Mellen Street interchange, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Fulton was driving his own vehicle and was arrested for DUI but not booked into jail, according to the sheriff’s office.

Mansfield said in the news release he does not know why his deputy was not jailed, but he has placed him on administrative leave while the incident is being investigated.

In September, an 11-year-veteran of the the sheriff’s office was stopped by a trooper when he attempted to drive through the closed area of a collision scene just off Interstate 5 south of Chehalis and arrested for driving drunk.

Deputy Jeffrey S. Humphrey was also put on leave, and after an internal investigation, Mansfield imposed a two-week unpaid suspension and Humphrey was removed from his position as a detective.

“I will not tolerate this type of performance from my employees either on or off duty,” Mansfield stated about the latest arrest. “After my internal investigation is complete, I will provide a full account of the incident to the people we serve.”

Fulton is scheduled to go before a judge today in Lewis County District Court.

Driving under the influence is gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and or a $5,000 fine.

A Ford pickup rolled through a pedestrian fence along Byham Road and came to rest in Wallers Creek.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

WINLOCK – If a truck falls in the trees and no one sees it, does it make a sound?

Yes it does.

“We all heard a crash and didn’t know what it was, so we went back to what we were doing,” Winlock resident Jennifer Brown said.

On the other side of Byham Road and beyond Wallers Creek, Bonnie Givens heard a noise she described as a boom and wondered if something hit her shed.

Moments later, a firefighter and deputy were knocking on her door, asking if they could cut through her backyard to look in the creek.

It was about 2:40 p.m. and responders found a red Ford F250 on its top, in the water, below an approximately 30 foot eroded bank, according to Winlock Police Department Chief Terry Williams. It was unoccupied.

“They said no one was in it, I felt so good finding that out,” Givens said.

At about the same time, Brown’s neighbor came to tell her that her truck had left her driveway, crossed Byham Road, plowed through a chain link fence and fallen.

It happened about 100 yards west of the Tennessee Road Bridge at the very northeast corner of town.

Williams said once a tow truck is able to recover the vehicle, he will be able to figure out if it slipped out of park, or what happened.

Updated at 10:22 a.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 24-year-old Chehalis area man was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center after a single-vehicle wreck on state Route 6 last night.

Troopers and aid responded about 9:20 p.m. to the scene roughly two miles east of Pe Ell.

“When our guys got there, the truck was on its top in the ditch and they had to use the Jaws of Life (to extricate him),” Lewis County Fire District 11 Chief Michael Krafczyk said.

According to the Washington State Patrol, Tyler V. Clark was headed east and moved into the oncoming lane attempting to pass another vehicle when he lost control of his Toyota Tacoma pickup. Clark’s pickup rolled and landed on the north side of the highway, according to the state patrol.

Because of the weather, medics with the fire department and AMR had to transport him to the Tumwater airport to meet a helicopter to fly him to the Seattle hospital, according to Krafczyk.

The truck was totaled. The injuries were extensive enough to warrant an airlift, Krafczyk said.

The investigating trooper blamed the wreck on speed and reports it may have involved alcohol or drugs.

Just a week ago, speed was blamed for a collision that killed two young people on Big Hanaford Road north of Centralia. Jonathan W. Parker, a 20-year-old from Centralia, lost control of his car and slid into the path of a dump truck. His 18-year-old passenger, Tiara F. Kalebaugh from Pe Ell died with him.

Washington State Patrol spokesperson Trooper Jason Hicks this past week cited a new report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which found that excessive speed remains a leading cause of preventable traffic deaths.

According to Hicks, about one-third of such fatalities nationwide are linked to speeding. In Washington state during 2012, of the 437 people who died in traffic, 159 of the deaths included speed as a contributing factor.

John L. McNeal, left, Jeffrey C. Sitton and Michael K. Sitton, right, at their bail hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Law enforcement officers searched a Centralia residence yesterday and a car belonging to a rural Chehalis man at the end of a methamphetamine dealing investigation, with three men finding themselves charged today in Lewis County Superior Court.

John L. McNeal, 28, is charged with possession based on three baggies with residue found in his vehicle as well as six counts of delivery of a controlled substance connected with alleged purchases made by police informants over the past year. Bail for the rural Chehalis man was set at $20,000.

Police found glass pipes with residue at the 800 block of Wayne Drive in Centralia in the detached garage residence and the bedroom of Jeffrey C. Sitton, 31, and Michael K. Sitton, 33, according to charging documents.

At the home, they also located a 9 mm handgun and two shotguns, one of which was described as having a sawed off barrel, but no firearm charges were filed.

Jeffrey C. Sitton’s bail this afternoon was also set at $20,000.

He was charged with five counts of delivery and one of possession. The delivery allegations consist of instances when a confidential informant met up with him and McNeal, usually at Wayne Drive, but also outside Picasso Brothers in Centralia, according to the documents.

Both men have prior drug convictions.

Michael K. Sitton has no criminal history, but is now charged with one count of delivery connected to a November 2012 instance in which an informant allegedly met him and McNeal at the detached garage. He is charged with possession as well.

His bail was set at $10,000.

Charging documents also allege that last week, an informant told a detective they could purchase meth and a gun from McNeal and the younger Sitton and in the process obtained a .357 pistol which turned out to be stolen.

The investigations were conducted by the Centralia Police Department and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Their arraignments are set for next week.

Updated at 1:23 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

An individual has been taken to the hospital after a vehicle plunged some 50 feet down an embankment off the highway north of Morton this morning.

The first reports were the driver was unresponsive but when troopers arrived, he was awake, alert and talking, according to Washington State Patrol Trooper Will Finn.

“He’s been transported to the hospital with some serious injuries,” Finn said.

Finn said the wreck occurred on state Route 7 about six miles north of Morton.

Troopers responding just after 6:30 a.m. found the 2004 Chevrolet Impala totaled, according to the Washington State Patrol. His car went broadside down into a tree, Finn said.

Scott Geltmacher, 57, of Spanaway, was traveling southbound when he lost control on the snow and ice, crossed the centerline and left the roadway, according to the state patrol.

He was taken to Morton General Hospital with facial lacerations and lots of bruises and then transported by ground to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle as a precaution because of what Finn called small brain bleed.

The investigating trooper blamed the wreck on driving too fast.