Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Volkswagen Jetta on Interstate 5 near Vader was hit by two semi trucks overnight, first in the northbound lanes and then after it was propelled across the freeway, by a southbound big rig.

The wreck just before 1 a.m. was part of an incident that involved four semi trucks and two passenger vehicles and closed portions of the freeway until earlier this morning.

All but two of the rigs had to be towed.

“The driver of the Jetta, at least a broken nose, non-life threatening injuries, surprisingly,” Trooper Will Finn said this morning.

It began when a southbound Freightliner swerved for a deer, struck the center barrier and lost part of an axle and at least one tire which came to rest in the northbound lanes, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The Jetta and a Dodge van both struck the tire assembly and became disabled, Finn said. A northbound Freightliner struck the Jetta and the van, shooting the Jetta into the northbound lanes where another semi truck ran into it, according to Finn.

A fourth semi became disabled when it hit debris in the northbound lanes, he said.

It happened near milepost 58, near the Cowlitz River.

A detour was put in place until about 4 a.m. when just the inside lanes were closed while workers reset the jersey barriers, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The driver of the Jetta, Henry Hammond, 57, of Tacoma, was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital. He was treated and has been released.

The van’s driver, Christopher Hawkins, 57, of Clackamas, Ore., was taken to St. John Medical Center in Longview with chest pain, according to Finn.

Stephanie N. Laird, 33, of Vancouver, who was driving the 2005 Freightliner that swerved was uninjured, according to the state patrol.

The deer apparently was not struck and was not at the scene, according to Finn. Charges are pending, he said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 33-year-old Chehalis mother is being held in the Lewis County Jail after she allegedly three times sold small quantities of methamphetamine from her home while police were surveilling.

Nora M. Davis was arrested on Friday morning after police served a search warrant at her home on the 200 block of Southwest Second Street. There, they found a man who answered the door with suspected meth in his pants and then in her bedroom, a scale for weighing drugs as well as a bag of suspected meth and a glass pipe, according to charging documents and police.

Chehalis police had given Davis a break in July after meth residue was found on a pipe in her purse, offering her a chance to become a confidential informant instead of a drug charge, but she failed to follow through, according to prosecutors.

Davis has no criminal history. A judge yesterday ordered her held on $10,000 bail.

Charging documents describe how Davis then became a target for another confidential informant who in October, November and last Thursday allegedly purchased $20 and $60 amounts of the drug during visits to Davis’s home.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Eric Eisenberg said the 41-year-old Chehalis man – Thomas D. Crews – who was arrested on Friday morning was being released from jail without charges.  Eisenberg wouldn’t say why.

Davis is charged with three counts of delivery of a controlled substance and two counts of possession. She is expected to make her pleas on Thursday in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Chehalis police found numerous clues in Wal-Mart’s security video as they scoured the images after the suspected driver of a stolen $50,000 truck eluded pursuing deputies and slipped into the Chehalis super store a week ago.

Sgt. Brian Hickey said he couldn’t make out the license plate of the white van that appeared to pick up the suspect about five minutes after he entered the business on Dec. 2, but he later spotted a similar vehicle and ran the plates to discover the registered owner had been booked into jail before. He looked like the same guy, according to Hickey.

The clincher was the hooded sweatshirt with distinctive stripes shed by the suspect before departing Wal-Mart, according to Hickey. The van’s owner was wearing a jacket like that in his Facebook picture, Hickey said.

It was about 4:40 a.m. a week ago Sunday when a Lewis County sheriff’s deputy attempted to pull over a speeding driver near a Chehalis automobile dealer on North National Avenue. After the chase ended at Wal-Mart, deputies and police surrounded the building but the driver vanished.

The 2012 Chevrolet pickup truck had been stolen from Titus Will.

Hickey interviewed his suspect yesterday, after the 28-year-old Centralia resident was picked up by Centralia police.

“So, I go to ask him questions, like, do you know why police are looking for you?” Hickey said this morning.

“He says yeah, I got an idea,” Hickey said.

“Well?” Hickey asked him.

“Oh, for crimes,” the suspect answered, according to Hickey.

“Yeah?” Hickey said he asked.

“For breaking into the coffee stands,” the man replied, according to the sergeant.

Hickey said Garrett R. Dschaak told him about twice stealing from Ooh La Latte on Bishop Road in Chehalis and two recent espresso stand burglaries in Centralia.

He said he lost his job about a month ago, and needed the money, Hickey said.

“So, when he got done talking about all that stuff, which I didn’t know he was involved in, we talked about Wal-Mart,” Hickey said. “Cleared up a lot of crimes.”

Dschaak was booked into the Lewis County Jail yesterday for attempting to elude and possession of a stolen vehicle. More charges can be expected from the other police agencies, according to Hickey.

The suspect is scheduled to go before a judge this afternoon.